The New Orleans Saints filed two personnel moves ahead of their 2019 training camp, opening two spots on the 90-man summer roster.
Rookie defensive end Carl Granderson, who was sentenced to serve six months in jail on July 11, was designated to the reserve/did not report list. So the Saints have not yet released him from his contract after a Wyoming judge sentenced him on charges of sexual battery and unlawful contact. Granderson initially agreed to a plea deal, but the judge threw it out and immediately handed out this sentence.
It’s curious that the Saints did not release Granderson outright. Sean Payton said earlier in the summer that the Saints were comfortable with signing him out of college based off what they knew of his off-field issues. Could they be thinking to keep him under contract and wait out his time in prison to give him another shot to make the roster down the road?
The other roster move involved rookie wide receiver Emmanuel Butler, who was designated to the non-football injury list. Butler racked up back-to-back 1,000 receiving yard seasons for Northern Arizona but was cut down in his senior year with a shoulder injury. He was full-go in Saints minicamps, but it’s possible that shoulder condition has flared up again. The exact nature of his injury is not known.
These moves have the Saints with 88 of 90 spots occupied on the offseason roster. Veterans will not report until July 25, so the Saints have time to find two new additions to put the roster back at capacity.
