Saints Camp — Aug 23: Kamara Out About a Month

Alvin Kamara sprained the medial collateral ligament in his knee at Tuesday's joint practice in Oxnard and is expected to miss about a month, per Adam Schefter at ESPN — and that was only the second-worst injury report of the Saints' week, because a day earlier Ian Rapoport at NFL Network reported that rookie receiver Jordyn Tyson, the eighth overall pick, will miss around two months with the hamstring he pulled in a joint practice with Jacksonville, a timeline that runs into October and makes him a strong candidate to open the season on injured reserve, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk. Nick Underhill at NewOrleans.Football carried the gentler version on Kamara — "Didn't tear anything. Will be out for a few weeks" — but either read makes the September 13 opener against Detroit tight, and both land on an offense that spent the offseason rebuilding around exactly these two rooms.

The week those reports interrupted was a three-stop California trip, and the first stop got expensive. Tuesday's session against the Cowboys in Oxnard produced double-digit fights, per Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk — Saints center Erik McCoy threw a helmet in the air, Dallas edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku was ejected for throwing a punch, and Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer summed up his own afternoon with "Right now, I'm in charge of fight club." The league saw the same footage everyone else did and fined both clubs 500000 dollars apiece, per the Associated Press.

Thursday in Woodland Hills was calmer and better football. Against the Rams' defense, Tyler Shough went 14 of 22 by Jeff Nowak's charting at Audacy — efficient, though under steady pressure with at least two throws batted down at the line, which keeps the summer's pattern intact: the quarterback keeps producing while the protection in front of him keeps wobbling. The receiver making the most of it is rookie Bryce Lance, who spent his birthday catching five of six targets from Shough with two red-zone touchdowns, one of them over coverage against the Rams' starting corners. Kellen Moore: "Good work. Contested catches against really talented corners." That is now two joint practices in a row Lance has scored on a Shough throw — he had one against Jacksonville the week before — and with Tyson shelved into October, the fourth-round pick is the live answer to who plays outside next to Chris Olave in September. The defense had its own day: sacks from Carl Granderson, Chase Young and Davon Godchaux, +2 interceptions of Rams backup Ty Simpson, per Nowak.

Saturday at SoFi Stadium was the reverse image, with the caveat stated up front: Moore held every starter out, telling reporters Thursday's practice was the first team's real game-speed work, per Pankti Parmar at Heavy. So this was backups against backups, and the Saints' backups lost 34 to nothing. The game doubled as the backup-quarterback audition — Moore had called that race "close, we're real close" before kickoff — and neither candidate closed it. Zach Wilson, who had been taking second-team reps from Spencer Rattler during the week per John Sigler at Saints Wire, started and went 6 of 12 for 55 yards with an interception. Rattler went 14 of 23 for 141 and twice drove into the red zone in the second half, and both trips became Rams points: a 100-yard interception return by Alex Cook, then a lost fumble inside the five, per Ross Jackson's ledger at Louisiana Sports. Add 12 penalties for 96 yards, including two 12-men-on-the-field flags, per the team's own recap, and Moore's postgame assessment wrote itself, per Grant Chachere at Saints News Network: "Regular season, pre-season, does not matter... film is your resume in this league," and, taking his share, "we didn't prepare ourselves well enough from a coaching perspective."

The rest of the injury ledger, quickly. Audric Estime's diagnosis from the opener is an ankle, and he's expected to miss time, per Mike Triplett at NewOrleans.Football. Running back Devin Neal limped off Saturday after a four-yard run, per Luke Johnson at The Advocate, and tight end Moliki Matavao left with a lower-leg injury, per Jackson — which puts most of the backfield depth chart on one list in a single week. Center Cesar Ruiz left Thursday's practice with an ankle and no stated severity, per Nowak. Cam Jordan's hamstring produced no new diagnosis and no practice time; he has now been out two weeks.

Back in July we previewed New Orleans as the division's best story and its most pre-paid price — a full rebuild with no statistical rebate behind it, a second-year quarterback whose repeatable core graded bottom-five, and a repair job across the line, backfield and receiver room that camp needed to show functioning. We've been checking that preview against camp every week, and August keeps splitting it down the middle: Shough's file keeps adding modest, real evidence against real defenses, while the repair job sheds parts faster than any projection priced in — Tyson, Kamara and Dillon Radunz in the space of 10 days. One more check before the season.

What to watch now: the backup quarterback call between Rattler and Wilson, which Saturday's film made harder rather than easier, and how the Sunday, August 30 cut to 53 handles Tyson and Kamara — carried on the initial roster or moved to injured reserve, which decides whether either is a September player. The preseason finale is against Dallas. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._