Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
NEW ORLEANS — With a healthy active roster, the New Orleans Saints didn’t need to get much help from their practice squad heading into their Week 8 tilt with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But they did still elevate one player for game day.
The team announced Saturday that it has elevated defensive end Eku Leota for Sunday’s bout with the Buccaneers.
In doing so, the Saints will have five options at defensive end, unless one is named inactive before the game.
With the move at defensive end, the running back position will head into game day short-staffed. After losing running back Kendre Miller for the year with injury, the Saints waived back Velus Jones Jr. in order to claim tight end Zaire Mitchell-Paden. The Saints did not elevate running Audric Estime, who joined the team just days ago.
The Saints only active running backs on Sunday will be star Alvin Kamara and rookie Devin Neal. New Orleans has often only given the majority of snaps to two running backs throughout the season thus far. But with a chance at injury, it’s a precarious position for a team to find itself.
It would make sense if quarterback Taysom Hill were in line to contribute to the run game a bit more than he has so far this season.
