New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was the bearer of bad news on Friday, announcing in his post-practice media availability that starting middle linebacker Alex Anzalone would likely miss the rest of the 2019 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Anzalone was placed on injured reserve after the Saints’ Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Rams, and a surgical procedure to repair his injured shoulder revealed that the damage was more severe than initially understood. Instead of being a candidate to return in eight weeks as a short-term I.R. option, his year is over.
The Saints have a deep enough linebacker corps to absorb the hit (with starters Demario Davis and A.J. Klein, top backups Kiko Alonso and Craig Robertson, rookie draft pick Kaden Elliss, and recently-signed veteran Ray-Ray Armstrong) but there’s no question that Anzalone is the most physically-gifted of all of them. The young linebacker has struggled with shoulder injuries going back to his college career with the Florida Gators despite his top-shelf athleticism.
This marks the second of three years in the NFL Anzalone’s year ended on injured reserve. He’ll hope to bounce back next year and give the Saints a full season’s worth of contributions as he did in 2018, but they can’t count on him being available. It’s another ugly reminder of how many breaks did go their way last year — until they didn’t.
