New Orleans Saints: How serious is Marshon Lattimore’s injury?

For almost a week, the New Orleans Saints have kept Marshon Lattimore out of practice due to injury, but what does it mean for the regular season?

With training camp comes the possibility of injuries. The New Orleans Saints have already had their fair share and a new name looks to be added to the list. Their first-round pick, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, hasn’t practiced in almost a week and it’s starting to raise questions. How will Lattimore fare for the rest of the offseason and then the regular season?

Before the injury, all hopes were placed on Lattimore. He was going to be the catalyst for the defense and make them a more defined unit. With the return of Delvin Breaux, the two were supposed to wreak havoc. Sadly, Lattimore and Breaux have both been sidelined until further notice.

This isn’t Lattimore’s first brush with injury. He was plagued by a hamstring injury for most of his time at Ohio State. Lattimore assured it was a thing of the past and the surgery had fixed it. It’s not looking too promising right now, but I’m not a doctor. However, missing almost a week of practice isn’t a good sign.

The injury occurred on July 31 and was said to be a mild knee sprain. When The New Orleans Advocate asked Sean Payton about it, he didn’t seem worried:

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"“It’s not a hamstring or anything, He got his knee tweaked. I think he’ll be fine. It won’t be long.”"

Since then, Lattimore has yet to see any action in the past two weeks, and there hasn’t been much talk about the injury. We don’t know how severe it is or if it’s gotten worse and it’s concerning. With so much hype and excitement centered around Lattimore, it’s a little disheartening. If it really is only a knee sprain, then Lattimore should be getting cleared soon.

If it’s not just a sprain, the Saints could be in trouble. While Payton squashed the hamstring idea, it could be a possibility. Lattimore is susceptible to hamstring injuries and getting one now is devasting. It’s not only devasting for the team, but for Lattimore as well. Hopefully it doesn’t shake his confidence too much if it’s serious.

Serious or not, his injury could slow him down a little bit. He won’t be learning the playbook as quickly, not getting any drills and would miss some vital practice during preseason games. At least he’s been at practice, though just watching.

I was excited to see Lattimore perform in the preseason. With three games left, there’s still time. Hopefully, by the third or fourth one, Lattimore is healed and can participate. If not, then he could look at missing time during the regular season.

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Either way, there’s nothing to do but wait. Ideally, Lattimore will be good to suit up in a few days and make his preseason debut. If it goes into the regular season, then Lattimore might have to wait until 2018 for us to truly analyze him.