METAIRIE, La. -- New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore didn't use fatigue as an excuse for the team's poor performance in a 34-0 preseason loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, but it was clear a week of hard work had caught up with the roster.
The Saints were back in their Metairie facility, practicing without pads or helmets, on Monday after a week on the road in California. Almost a fourth of the roster was missing from practice after a 10-day stint that featured one cross-country trip, two preseason games and three sets of joint practices. With the bulk of training camp finished, the Saints will recover and figure out their next steps.
Moore has not said whether the starters will play in Friday's preseason finale at the Dallas Cowboys (8 p.m. ET, ESPN Unlimited) after they sat out the first two preseason games.
"We're going to work through it. We haven't made a total decision yet," Moore said. "So today was kind of the day to kind of rejuvenate these guys a little bit after a really good week and then we'll kind of see where we're at."
The Saints have already made moves ahead of the Sunday deadline to cut the roster to 53 players. Some moves, such as swapping Deion Jones for San Francisco 49ers running back Zamir White, have been made to bolster depth, while others, such as signing kicker Daniel Carlson, have been because of a lack of progress made at a certain position battle.
Here are four issues the Saints are facing in the final week of camp (and some they've already attempted to fix).
Injuries are piling up
The Saints held 20 players out of practice on Monday. Some, such as Jordyn Tyson, Alvin Kamara and Cameron Jordan, will miss significant time. Other players have new injuries with their severity and return timelines not yet known.
Running back Audric Estime returned to practice after injuring an ankle in the first preseason game, but two more running backs were out with injury (Devin Neal re-injured his hamstring and Ty Chandler has a season-ending knee injury.)
Wide receivers Bub Means and Trey Palmer didn't practice on Monday (although Means returned in a limited capacity on Tuesday), while tight ends Moliki Matavao (knee) and Oscar Delp (hamstring) were also absent. Matavao would be put on season-ending IR on Tuesday.
Cornerback Rezjohn Wright is going on season-ending injured reserve with a hip injury and Moore said rookie defensive back Lorenzo Styles will have "time lost" due to a calf injury.
What will the Saints do with depleted skill position depth?
New Orleans has been cautious with its healthy receivers, giving Devaughn Vele and Chris Olave rest days, while alternating rookies Bryce Lance and Barion Brown in preseason games.
At running back, they'll likely lean on Kendre Miller behind Travis Etienne Jr., but he tore his ACL last season and had a back issue that kept him out of a large portion at camp. Keeping him healthy will be a priority with so many running backs out.
"It's always that next-man-up mentality," Miller said. "I have probably a bigger role now since AK is down, so I'm going to just take that and try to run with it."
The Saints will also have to find a role for White, but Moore said he thinks it will be a "smooth transition" for him coming from San Francisco. Moore expects him to play in Friday's game at Dallas.
Who wins the kicker battle?
Moore said the team will carry three kickers into the final week of the preseason after signing Carlson, who was a longtime kicker for the Las Vegas Raiders and a two-time All-Pro. Carlson has been a free agent all offseason.
"Obviously we've seen his career and the success he's had in Las Vegas and he's been a really good kicker in this league. So I feel like this will be a good opportunity for him," Moore said.
The addition of Carlson means the kicking battle is far from over after Charlie Smyth and Tanner Brown struggled with consistency throughout camp.
While Carlson was at Monday's practice, the three kickers did not attempt field goals. Moore said they will all get a chance to kick in practice later in the week and in the game.
If Smyth gets released, it's possible he can stick on the practice squad via the International Player Pathway exemption. Smyth is the 91st player on the roster right now and could be the 17th practice squad player if he and the team choose to go that route, as they did for the past two seasons.
Moore didn't say whether this means Carlson will be the kicker going forward, only that they'll "let the next few days take its course."
Repeat issues from 2025
Two significant issues from 2025 appeared to happen in Saturday's game against the Rams. The Saints finished last season ranked No. 32 in red zone touchdown scoring (44.4%). They also finished top 10 in penalties and top five in pre-snap penalties.
This preseason, the Saints converted on scoring opportunities against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the red zone, taking advantage of good field position provided by an 86-yard kickoff return and an interception to score touchdowns. But every opportunity to score against the Rams ended in turnovers or a missed field goal.
The Saints also had a combined 20 penalties in their first two preseason games this season.
Some of these issues will come up naturally in preseason games, as the team works through things in preparation for the regular season. There are also issues with mostly backups playing. But if the starters don't play in the third preseason game, it will be hard to know if the Saints can smooth all of these things out prior to their season opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 13 (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
"Lack of discipline, lack of detail. A lot of them are under our control," Moore said after the Rams loss. "Twelve penalties in a football game, you're not going to win football games. I feel like we talked a lot about that and it was obviously a step back from the progress that we felt like we've made, so, uh, going to be a lesson."
Do the Saints have the right three quarterbacks?
The Saints are getting to the point in camp in which they'll have to make decisions about who will back up Tyler Shough, and neither Spencer Rattler or Zach Wilson have made a strong push to take that job.
While the Saints could roster three QBs, the number of injuries they have might mean some roster shuffling to add short-term depth. Even if they keep all three on the active roster, that might not necessarily be who is on the Week 1 roster.
Wilson started Saturday's game against the Rams, finishing 6-of-12 for 55 yards and one interception, while Rattler finished 14-of-23 for 141 yards and an interception, which was returned for a touchdown.
If Shough doesn't play against the Cowboys, then Friday will be the final chance for both quarterbacks to make their case for a roster spot. Moore said he looks at the collective body of work from both, not just the preseason game performances, and he likes the progress both have made.
"Everyone's going to kind of self-correct every single week and find different opportunities they can get better," Moore said. "But they're both playing some good football. You got to look at those two joint practices. ... I felt like their performances were really steady and did a really good job."