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That didn’t take long. The New Orleans Saints filled the vacancy on their practice squad left in Jaylon Smith’s departure by signing former Pro Bowl linebacker Cory Littleton, maintaining depth in the linebackers corps. Littleton’s arrival was first reported by KPRC2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson.
Littleton rose to prominence with the Los Angeles Rams from 2016 to 2019 (earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition in 2018) before signing a lucrative free agent contract with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020; but he didn’t meet his previous heights and was released in 2022, where he landed with the Carolina Panthers. Littleton was most recently playing for the Houston Texans.
Dennis Allen likes to keep a lot of linebackers. In addition to Littleton, the practice squad also carries Ryan Connelly and Anfernee Orji, who are backing up the six-man group on the active roster: starters Demario Davis and Pete Werner plus strong side linebacker Zack Baun and reserves Nephi Sewell, D’Marco Jackson, and Ty Summers, each of whom play a lot of snaps on special teams.