The New Orleans Saints’ injury reports all week have been far from what fans and the coaching staff want to see. Already, this team has not had a good season, currently having a 2-10 record, but it is evaluation season for the Saints, and they need this roster as healthy as possible.
Instead, the Saints are dealing with way too many essential players popping up on the injury report, and three starters have been ruled out.
What Does the Saints’ Full Injury Report Say?
As I mentioned, the Saints have had some of their most important players listed out on this week’s injury report: WR Chris Olave, safeties Justin Reid and Jonas Sanker, OT Taliese Fuaga, and RB Alvin Kamara. Sanker was added after yesterday’s practice, but the other names have been consistently listed.
Now, after today’s practice, Fuaga, Reid, and Kamara have all been ruled out, while Sanker is good to go, and Olave is questionable.
Mike Evans is out for this week. Chris Olave is questionable. pic.twitter.com/w97LteYAEy
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) December 5, 2025
It is extremely good news that Sanker will play, and Olave has a chance to suit up, as he did last week after the same back issues, but those three players being out could really hurt the Saints on Sunday.
How the Saints Can Handle the Loss of These Players
Looking at the three players listed as inactive for Sunday’s game, the Saints should be able to deal with Kamara and Reid being out.
Already, rookie RB Devin Neal has been able to step up and make some big plays for the Saints, and for the safeties, Terrell Burgess had a solid game against the Dolphins. Saying this, New Orleans will still miss the potential production from Kamara (like in the Carolina Panthers game) and Reid’s leadership in the secondary, but at least they have some 2nd options that can step up.
The main inactive that will hurt this team massively is Fuaga. Injuries have clearly affected Fuaga’s availability; only played nine games so far. Further, the injuries have hurt his play on the field, as shown by his ranking in PFSN’s Player OL Impact Metric (#43).
Still, even with these struggles, Fuaga is by far the best RT on the roster, and without him, the Saints give up way too much pressure on the right side of the line. Rookie QB Tyler Shough needs as much time as possible to make plays, but without Fuaga, that does not happen much, especially against a good pass-rush team like the Buccaneers.