The Saints seem to have more convicts than Alcatraz the way the past two offseasons have gone.
Obviously that’s an exaggeration, but the off the field issues are frustrating for the Saints as well as the fan base.
For those who missed it, safety Marcus Maye was arrested Thursday morning for aggravated assault. Not many details about the event have been released, but Maye had a firearm and reportedly pointed it at juvenile girls.
This isn’t a good look for Maye who is already trying to manage a DUI charge from 2021. The next court hearing regarding the DUI is November 16th.
Unless a video of some sort is released of Maye pointing the firearm at whoever it may be, Marcus Maye will be available to start the season.
The NFL keeps themselves out of off the field legal issues until the court hearings are all finalized.
A court hearing for the aggravated assault charge should take place however within the next month or two in which Maye’s attorneys will ask for an extension or plead not guilty. This should push that next hearing out a few months.
If Maye is suspended at some point this season it’ll come after November 16th for the DUI. These are long processes so a suspension for the aggravated assault should take place next season barring anything drastically changes (like a video being released).
Maye missed practice Thursday with his bail set to $30K.
The injury front
On the positive side of things, the Saints are getting healthy. Michael Thomas is on pace to play week one and everything sounds good regarding Thomas and his ankle and hamstring.
Moving over to the offensive line, James Hurst says he feels 100% which is critical after Trevor Penning suffered a toe in the preseason finale against the Chargers.
The injury for Penning requires surgery and he will miss significant time this year. Penning as well as Malcolm Roach were placed on injured reserve. They will have to miss a minimum of four games.
A source tells me that Roach’s injury isn’t too bad and should be designated to return after the fourth game.
As far as Paulson Adebo’s injury is going, he’s day to day with a left ankle sprain. Adebo should be ready for week one.
Mark Ingram has been gone this week, not sure exactly why. If it was something serious I believe we would’ve heard something about it by now.
Tre’Quan is dealing with a shoulder injury.
New and familiar faces
After the surprising release of Dwayne Washington he’s back again. It was all part of the Saints plan to get certain guys in the roster and practice squad.
A new face around the team is OL Drew Desjarlais who is on the Saints practice squad.
Offensive linemen Tenner Owen was claimed off waivers by the Saints. He’s wearing 79 but is unsure where in the line he’ll focus on. During his time in Buffalo he played everywhere but center.
Possible LB target?
Without a doubt the Saints are very thin at linebacker. An opportunity opened up for the Saints to get depth at linebacker and they need to be making calls.
Linebacker Blake Martinez was released by the Giants on Thursday. I want to emphasize release. Martinez being released means he can sign wherever he desires as opposed to being waived when any team could pick him up off the waiver wire.
If I’m the Saints front office I would’ve called Martinez’s agent immediately. He’s a high quality linebacker who would start on multiple teams.
Out of his six seasons, Martinez has totaled over 100 tackles in four of those seasons. In my opinion signing Martinez would be an upgrade over Kwon. The pass coverage wouldn’t be as good, but Martinez is still capable of holding his own.
Martinez only played three games in 2021 before tearing his ACL. In those three games he was still able to get 23 tackles and one tackle for a loss.
There needs to be a desire from Martinez to go to New Orleans as well, but I’d be calling the phone constantly every day to get him in New Orleans.
Written by Kadin Janisch
Related articles here
