The hits just keep coming for the New Orleans Saints. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reported Tuesday that veteran cornerback Ken Crawley was injured in the team’s preseason game with the Jacksonville Jaguars and is “going to be out a couple of weeks.”
It’s a crushing blow. Crawley played some of his best football this summer against the Jaguars and was projected to start across from Marshon Lattimore in their Sept. 12 home opener against the Green Bay Packers. He had a very strong training camp and looked to have rebounded from his time away from New Orleans, which he spent on other teams’ practice squads and even out of football for a time until this opportunity came up again. Here’s hoping for a full and quick recovery. The door is hardly shut on Crawley recovering to play in Week 1, but it shouldn’t be considered a given.
While the Saints have time to get him back to good health, they also have a promising rookie who was already pushing Crawley for that starting gig: Paulson Adebo. The third-round pick out of Stanford has held his own through two preseason games and continued to impress in practice. Still, throwing him into action against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers receiving corps isn’t an ideal welcome to the NFL for any rookie.
After losing veteran backup Brian Poole to injured reserve on Tuesday, the Saints are left with the following healthy corners: Lattimore, Adebo, 2020 practice squad holdover Grant Haley, part-time free safety P.J. Williams, and the recently-signed Natrell Jamerson and Bryan Mills.
