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Saints: 6 players the team can’t afford to lose to injury in 2021

By Leigh Oleszczak

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 20: Eli Apple #25 of the New Orleans Saints gets injured late in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on October 20, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 20: Eli Apple #25 of the New Orleans Saints gets injured late in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on October 20, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /
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Marshon Lattimore #23 of the New Orleans Saints (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Marshon Lattimore #23 of the New Orleans Saints (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The New Orleans Saints are entering an interesting season, as it’ll be the first year without Drew Brees as their quarterback. If the Saints want any chance of being competitive and potentially winning the NFC South, they need their team to stay healthy.

Losing any of their star players would practically be a death sentence in a season as unique as this one, so it’s important for these six players to stay healthy and contribute at a high level in 2021.

Saints need Marshon Lattimore to stay healthy

While Marshon Lattimore hasn’t been the same dominant corner that he was at the beginning of his career, he’s the best cornerback on the Saints’ roster in what’s an otherwise thin position. They let Janoris Jenkins leave in free agency and didn’t sign anyone else to fill his place. This was one of their biggest mistakes of the offseason.

The Saints drafted Stanford rookie Paulson Adebo in the third round and expect big things from him but if Lattimore goes down, they’re banking on Adebo, Patrick Robinson, and either Keith Washington or Ken Crawley to be the main corners.

Lattimore is entering the final year of his rookie deal and this is his chance to ball out and earn a big contract in the offseason. If he gets injured, that’ll be tougher for him to do and it’ll also make it tougher for the Saints to stop the lethal passing attacks they’re facing this year.