The New Orleans Saints are approaching their Week 1 matchup with the Detroit Lions with uncertainty surrounding two of the longest-tenured players on the roster.
Head coach Kellen Moore said on Monday that he isn't ready to rule out Alvin Kamara or Cameron Jordan, but that he also isn't offering any guarantees about their availability for the season opener.
Kamara has been sidelined since suffering a sprained MCL during the Aug. 18 joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys. Initial reports indicated that he could miss four to six weeks, while Jordan has been working back from a hamstring injury suffered earlier in training camp. Neither player appeared in the preseason.
Moore, when asked directly about whether playing in the opener was a possibility
for both players, replied with uncertainty: “We’ll see how this week goes. We’ll probably have a better idea at the beginning of next week. We’ll have a couple of practices this week, and then next week we should have a good idea, honestly, of what workload those guys are able to do. That will project us into what Week 1 will look like.”
Moore later clarified that any work Kamara and Jordan do during this stage of their recovery doesn't take place on the field. The Saints will monitor how much each player can handle before determining whether there's enough time to get them ready for Detroit.
Kamara returning for the opener would bolster a backfield that is expected to feature Travis Etienne Jr. and Kendre Miller. Jordan, meanwhile, would provide a major boost to a defensive front after leading the Saints with 10.5 sacks last season.
The Saints have enough depth at both positions to avoid rushing either of the veterans back, especially this early in the season. Moore's comments still leave the door open, though, with the beginning of next week shaping up as the key checkpoint for both players.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Latest Saints injury updates on Alvin Kamara, Cameron Jordan
