After learning yesterday that defensive lineman Marcus Davenport would be undergoing season-ending surgery, the Saints have been dealt another blow. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins has a significant ankle injury that will knock him out for the rest of the season (Twitter link). New Orleans placed Rankins on IR and signed defensive tackle T.Y. McGill, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Rankins left the Saints’ difficult loss to the 49ers on Sunday with the injury, and his absence will be missed as the club tries to climb back into one of the NFC’s top two seeds. The 2016 first-rounder is unfortunately no stranger to the training room, as he has also suffered a broken fibula and a torn Achilles in his young career. He played a full 16-game slate in the 2017-18 seasons, and in 2018, he broke out with eight sacks. But he tore his Achilles in the divisional round of last year’s playoffs, and he did not return to the field until Week 4 of the 2019 campaign.
Luckily for the Saints, the defensive front is perhaps their deepest positional group. But given that linebackers A.J. Klein and Kiko Alonso also dealing with injuries, the front seven as a whole has suddenly become something of a question mark.
Can never catch a break. He gets hurt every year. Davenport and Rankins?!!? I don’t see how you overcome that and win it all