Saints Benching Jairus Byrd
The Saints are planning on moving veteran safety Jairus Byrd to the bench, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Other changes could also be coming to the New Orleans defense, which ranks 30th in DVOA through three weeks, per Rapoport.
[RELATED: New Orleans Saints Depth Chart]
Byrd, 29, has struggled through three games this season, and was notably beaten by running back Devonta Freeman and the Falcons last week. It’s a small sample size to be sure, but Byrd currently ranks as the No. 49 safety in the league among 74 qualifiers, according to Pro Football Focus. Second-round rookie Vonn Bell will presumably see more snaps with Byrd headed to the sideline.
“I think the status quo sometimes can be your enemy,” head coach Sean Payton told reporters, including Nick Underhill of the Advocate, earlier this week. “I think you look at every area, not just one specific area. No different to the meeting schedule to how they are practicing, you look at all of that.”
The Saints signed Byrd to a six-year, $54MM deal prior to the 2014 campaign, and that contract has proven to be one of the worst free agent accords in recent memory. Strapped for cap space, New Orleans converted a portion of Byrd’s 2015 base salary into a signing bonus, making it even more difficult to part ways with the defensive back.
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Saints Cut Khalif Barnes, Sign Brian Dixon
For the second time in a month, the Saints made the decision to cut tackle Khalif Barnes, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. Third-year cornerback Brian Dixon will return to the team’s active roster after spending time this season on the Saints’ practice squad.
The 34-year-old Barnes has spent plenty of time on the fringe for the Saints this summer, working out for the team on multiple occasions and now being cut for the second time. Sean Payton said in September, when both he and Dixon failed to make New Orleans’ 53-man roster, Barnes was not yet in football shape. The Saints then re-signed him two weeks later after he presumably worked his way into shape.
Barnes did not see action for the Saints this season after playing for the Jaguars and Raiders for 11 years. A starter of 117 games since entering the league as a second-round Jags pick in 2005, Barnes started just one game for the Raiders last season — his final year with the team he played for from 2009-15.
Dixon rejoins a Saints team in dire need of experience at corner after losing both Delvin Breaux and second-year player P.J. Williams to injuries. A third-year UDFA out of Division II Northwest Missouri State, Dixon played in all 32 of New Orleans’ contests in 2014-15 as a backup. He’ll likely function in that role again.
The Saints have Sterling Moore, whom they signed late in the summer, and UDFAs Ken Crawley and De’Vante Harris as their top three corners presently. Dixon saw action for both Rob Ryan and Dennis Allen‘s units in 2015, so system acclimation probably won’t be an issue.
The Saints, after giving up an NFL-record 45 touchdown passes last season, rank 25th against the pass this season.
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Saints Move Obum Gwachum To IR
- The Saints moved defensive end Obum Gwacham to IR to make room for Khalif Barnes, whom they signed earlier today, Josh Katzenstein of NOLA.com reports. It’s unclear, per Katzenstein, what injury forced Gwacham to IR. But the defender debuted Monday night and played seven special teams plays.
Saints To Sign OT Khalif Barnes
The Saints are expected to sign tackle Khalif Barnes today, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Barnes had multiple auditions with the Saints this month and he finally has landed a deal with New Orleans. 
The tackle hooked on with New Orleans towards the end of the preseason but he did not make the final 53-man cut in early September. Coach Sean Payton indicated that Barnes didn’t make the team initially because he wasn’t in football shape. Now, Barnes is presumably ready for live action.
Barnes played in 14 games for the Raiders last year, but he only started one contest. In his previous ten NFL seasons, Barnes started in more than 80% of his games.
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Saints Waive Kyle Prater From IR
- The Saints waived wide receiver Kyle Prater from injured reserve, Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets.
NFL Waiver Priority Now Based On 2016 Record
We’re coming up on Week 4 of the NFL season and that means that waiver claim priority will be based on the current league standings instead of last year’s. Of course, waiver priority is based on the inverted NFL standings, which have built in tiebreakers to sort out the many logjams that naturally occur.
Throughout the offseason and the first three weeks of the regular season, the Titans enjoyed top priority thanks to their 3-13 finish last year. Now, we have a brand new pecking order. Here is a full rundown of the current waiver claim priority, which will change from week to week:
1. Jaguars
2. Saints
3. Bears
4. Browns
5. Chargers
6. Lions
7. Jets
8. Cardinals
9. Bills
10. Colts
11. Dolphins
12. 49ers
13. Buccaneers
14. Bengals
15. Titans
16. Redskins
17. Panthers
18. Falcons
19. Cowboys
20. Giants
21. Raiders
22. Packers
23. Chiefs
24. Rams
25. Seahawks
26. Texans
27. Steelers
28. Ravens
29. Eagles
30. Broncos
31. Vikings
32. Patriots
Saints Work Out Shak Randolph
- The Saints auditioned defensive back Shak Randolph, a source tells Nick Underhill of The Advocate (on Twitter). Randolph, an SMU product, was signed by the Chiefs as an UDFA earlier this year, but Kansas City cut him from its practice squad earlier this month. New Orleans, which was already thin in the secondary, has experienced a rash of defensive back injuries lately. The club also worked out 2015 third-round cornerback D’Joun Smith today.
Saints Work Out CB D’Joun Smith
The Saints are in need of some cornerback help and they’re looking at out-of-house options. Today, the Saints auditioned D’Joun Smith, a 2015 third-round pick of the Colts, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. 
[RELATED: Saints Place CB P.J. Williams On IR]
A former Florida Atlantic defensive back, Smith was placed on IR-DTR by the Colts in his rookie season and wound up seeing time in only four games before being cut. He was in camp with Indianapolis again this offseason but he was waived with an injury designation prior to the 53-man deadline. Still only 23, the Saints are hoping he can help their ailing secondary. In 44 career games at Florida Atlantic, Smith totaled 120 tackles (78 solo), nine interceptions, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 1.0 sack and 29 passes defensed.
The Saints, of course, are without their top two cornerbacks. Delvin Breaux will be out for more than a month after suffering a broken fibula in the season opener. Then, this week, P.J. Williams was placed on IR after suffering a severe concussion.
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Poll: Which 0-2 Team Is Likeliest To Rebound?
Three-quarters of NFL teams have picked up at least one win this season, leaving eight stragglers that have begun 2016 with back-to-back losses. Historically, clubs that have lost their first two games haven’t rebounded to make postseason trips often. In fact, since the league expanded and reorganized its divisions in 2002, only 12 of 116 teams that have started a season 0-2 have gone on to earn playoff berths. Two of those occurrences came last season, with the Seahawks rallying to finish 10-4 and the Texans going 9-5 over their final 14 games.
Of the teams that are currently 0-2, Cleveland stands out as the one with no realistic chance to recover. As a club in a full-blown rebuild, the Browns were completely written off entering the season, and they’ve since lost their top two quarterbacks – Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown – and No. 1 receiver Corey Coleman to significant injuries.
Elsewhere, the Bears, Bills, Dolphins and Saints faced long odds to contend coming into the year, and their chances have worsened during the first two weeks.
The Bears are stuck in a tough NFC North with the Vikings and Packers, both of whom made the playoffs in 2015. Of greater concern, perhaps, is that injuries are hampering Chicago, which will go without quarterback Jay Cutler, linebacker Danny Trevathan and nose tackle Eddie Goldman for multiple weeks. Meanwhile, linebacker Lamarr Houston is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Buffalo, which has gone a league-worst 16 straight seasons without a playoff trip, is seemingly in shambles in Year 2 of the Rex Ryan era. Ryan fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman last Friday, the same day Bills ownership had a Ryan-less meeting with several of the team’s players. Previously, the Bills dropped winnable games against the Ravens and Jets, which doesn’t bode well for a team whose next two opponents – the Cardinals and Patriots – are elite.
The Dolphins, who are among the Bills’ AFC East rivals, began with an unkind schedule over the first two weeks. They had to go to Seattle and New England, where they lost close affairs. Miami’s next opponent is the aforementioned Browns, who are primed to start third-round rookie Cody Kessler under center. On paper, the Dolphins look likely to win their home opener, but few expect rookie head coach Adam Gase & Co. to make any real noise in the standings this year.
Like the Dolphins, the Saints have started 2016 with back-to-back one-score losses, including a 35-34 opener that the Raiders won with a late two-point conversion. New Orleans hasn’t necessarily played poorly, and it still has a high-powered offense, but a defense that already had issues coming into the year has since lost starting cornerbacks Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams to major injuries.
In the AFC South, there were preseason cases made for both the Colts or Jaguars to contend for a divisional crown, but things haven’t gone according to plan for either.
Indianapolis moved the ball with ease through the air in Week 1 against the Lions, but its defense was woeful in a 39-35 loss. Then, in last week’s 34-20 defeat in Denver, quarterback Andrew Luck was ineffective. After missing most of last season with various injuries, he has been dealing with a shoulder issue throughout this season.
The Jaguars made several hyped offseason moves and entered the season with high expectations for a franchise that hasn’t won more than five games in a season since 2010. They played the Packers to the wire in Week 1, losing 27-23, but looked like the same old Jags on Sunday in a 38-14 defeat in San Diego.
Of this year’s winless crop, only the Redskins made the playoffs last season. Washington went 9-7 en route to an NFC East title, and the division once again looks like anyone’s to win, but the team won’t have a chance without quarterback Kirk Cousins regaining something resembling the form he showed in the second half of 2015. The Cousins-led Redskins will go on the road Sunday to face the division-rival Giants, who are 2-0. It’s foolish to use the phrase “must-win game” in Week 3, but Washington’s matchup with Big Blue comes close.
As mentioned, the Browns and Dolphins play each other this week. Barring a tie, then, one will break into the win column. The other six face teams that have gone 1-1 or better, and all could remain without a victory through Week 3. Notably, no club has started 0-3 and made the playoffs since the 1998 Bills. First things first, though, which of these eight stands the best chance to make a playoff run this season?
Which 0-2 Team Is Likeliest To Recover?
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Colts 27% (728)
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Saints 18% (489)
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Redskins 16% (421)
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Dolphins 13% (355)
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Jaguars 13% (347)
-
Bills 5% (143)
-
Bears 4% (108)
-
Browns 2% (61)
Total votes: 2,652
Saints Place CB P.J. Williams On IR
The Saints are placing cornerback P.J. Williams on IR, as Nick Underhill of The Advocate tweets. To fill his roster spot, the Saints are signing offensive tackle Tony Hills (Twitter link).
The loss of Williams is another significant blow to New Orleans’ secondary, which is already without No. 1 cornerback Delvin Breaux for several weeks because of the broken fibula he suffered in Week 1.
Like Breaux, Williams is a starter for the Saints. The second-year man missed his rookie year with a torn hamstring, but his latest issue looked far more serious at first. In the opening quarter of the Saints’ 16-13 loss to the Giants on Sunday, Williams’ head hit the right knee of Giants tight end Larry Donnell. There were initial fears that Williams had a spinal cord injury, and he had to be carted off the field on a stretcher. In the end, Williams emerged with a concussion severe enough to keep him out for the foreseeable future.
With both Breaux and Williams down, the 0-2 Saints are now especially thin at corner as they prepare to face the NFC South rival Falcons this week. Undrafted rookie Ken Crawley took over for Williams on Sunday. The Saints’ other options include another undrafted rookie, De’vante Harris, as well as Sterling Moore and B.W. Webb.
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