New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen has been careful to speak positively about the situation, but this might be concerning. Pro Bowl linebacker Demario Davis missed his second training camp practice on Sunday while dealing with a calf injury. When ESPN’s Katherine Terrell asked for an update on Davis’s status, Allen was noncommittal:
“No, I mean he’s got a calf. We’ll monitor him and see how it’s going. I’m not gonna getting into any timelines but again, it’s not gonna be anything that’s really significant,” Allen said.
Allen previously said that Davis underwent imaging on his injured leg Saturday, but declined to share the results. And as he said, there’s no timeline for Davis’s return to the field. That could mean he’ll be back at practice early this week. Or it could mean he’s being shut down for the preseason. At this stage, we just don’t have much information to work with one way or another. All fans can do is wait and see.
That’s tough considering the state of the linebacker corps. Pete Werner has continued to play well this summer next to Davis, and the Saints have had a couple of younger guys step up in practice — second-year pros D’Marco Jackson and Nephi Sewell, as well as journeyman linebacker Ryan Connelly. But none of them have extensive starting experience in the NFL and the Saints would be asking a lot of them to fill in for the league’s only every-down linebacker.
And options are thin in free agency. Veterans Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham both agreed to terms on one-year deals with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, not long after Deion Jones signed with the Carolina Panthers. Former Saints fan-favorite Kwon Alexander recently teamed up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, too, so the free agent market is rapidly dwindling. Hopefully Davis won’t miss much more time, but it would still behoove New Orleans to invest in a stronger insurance policy.
