In advance of their Week 10 matchup against the Carolina Panthers, the New Orleans Saints announced a few roster moves on Saturday afternoon.
Rookie defensive tackle Christen Miller has been placed on injured reserve. Kicker Charlie Smyth and offensive tackle Easton Kilty were elevated from the practice squad to the active roster, with Kilty being a standard elevation for the week. Running back Travis Etienne was officially activated from injured reserve.
Etienne was the biggest move. He's missed the last five games with a hamstring injury but was signed to a three-year contract last offseason to be the Saints featured running back. Through the first three games, Etienne had 128 rushing yards and a 4.3 average with 11 receptions for 51 yards.
Expect Etienne to share backfield reps fairly evenly with Audric Estime and Alvin Kamara. Estime had 72 yards rushing in last week's win over Cleveland, a season-high for any New Orleans running back.
Miller is a rookie second round pick, the 42nd overall selection, who was expected to fortify the middle of the Saints defense. Through eight games, Miller had only appeared in four contests and just 32% of the team's defensive snaps in those outings with 5 total tackles. Dealing with a knee injury, the Saints had already ruled Miller out on Fridays injury report before the decision to place him on injured reserve on Saturday.
Kilty's elevation makes sense. He can play multiple positions along the offensive line and the Saints will be without injured center Erik McCoy (biceps) and right tackle Taliese Fuaga (knee) this Sunday and for probably several weeks to follow. At least initially, right guard Cesar Ruiz will slide into McCoy's spot with either rookie fourth round choice Jeremiah Wright or William Sherman playing right guard. Fuaga will be replaced by either Asim Richards or rookie Mason Murphy. Smyth gets his second straight week at kicker as a replacement for the released Daniel Carlson. After Blake Grupe was released at mid-season last year, Smyth was 12 of 16 on field goal attempts through the last six games. He'd lose the job in training camp before being elevated from the practice squad last week to replace Carlson.
New Orleans and Carolina both come into this game with 3-5 records and tied for first place in the NFC South. The winner of this Superdome showdown will take sole possession of first place. New Orleans swept Carolina last season and are 10-4 against the Panthers since 2019.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints roster moves: Second-round pick lands on injured reserve
