The New Orleans Saints made a roster move on Thursday that will prohibit their All-Pro offensive tackle from playing in the first four games of the regular season. The Saints will be without one of their best protectors for quarterback Derek Carr to start the season.
The New Orleans Saints have questions on the offensive line
The Saints are looking to improve their 9-8 record from last season and sneak into the playoffs out of a weak NFC South division. They’ll need their new offensive line to quickly jell during training camp, as they’ll be without their two starting offensive tackles from the 2023 season.
Offensive tackle James Hurst announced his retirement this spring. Since he revealed last season that cartilage in his knee had deteriorated, questions have surrounded Ryan Ramczyk’s availability for this season. Ramczyk played and started in 12 games for the Saints last season.
Ryan Ramczyk will miss at least the first four games
On Thursday, the Saints announced their All-Pro offensive tackle was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list:
The move was not totally unexpected; the three-time All-Pro (2018-20) and 2017 first-round draft pick had been slow to make progress from offseason knee surgery and did not participate in OTAs or the veteran minicamp. New Orleans drafted Oregon State right tackle Taliese Fuaga in the first round this year but shifted Fuaga to left tackle and worked in Trevor Penning, the team’s first-round pick in 2022, at right tackle. Players on the Reserve/PUP list must sit out the first four weeks of the regular season. After that, teams have a five-week window in which to allow the player to begin practicing and from the day the player begins practicing, the team would have a 21-day window to decide whether to activate him to the 53-man roster. If either of those deadlines pass, the player must remain on the PUP list for the rest of the season.
The Saints were aware of Ramczyk’s trajectory in March
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Per an ESPN article in March, Saints head coach Dennis Allen hinted that Ramczyk was not rehabbing as quickly as he needed to make the start of the regular season:
“He just isn’t quite where I was probably hoping he’d be, and really quite frankly, where he was hoping he’d be,” Allen told reporters at the NFL’s annual league meeting on Tuesday. “But … there’s a long time before we kick the ball off, so I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions right now, but we’ll see how it goes over the next three, four, five, six months, whatever that is, before we get to the beginning of the season.”
Allen’s remarks in March were much different in tone than those he gave at the NFL Combine in February when he thought Ramczyk would be available for training camp.
For now, the Saints know they’ll be without Ramczyk in September.
