Saints players who need to get healthy over the bye week

This season, much like last season, has consisted of the New Orleans Saints being injury-prone. It feels like every injury report released is mirroring a chapter in a Harry Potter book and it's obviously led to the team not performing as well as the fans had hoped when the season began.

With the bye week finally upon us, let's take a look at the Saints players who need to use this time to come back from injury and help the team win some games.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference

Erik McCoy

Not having the anchor on an already-struggling offensive line has proved pivotal for the Saints, as McCoy has been out since Week 9 with a calf injury. The Saints wisely extended McCoy in the offseason and he was playing well before the injury sidelined him.

While McCoy's been out, we've seen Cesar Ruiz and Josh Andrews snapping the ball to Andy Dalton. Ruiz is better at right guard and McCoy's presence instantly makes this o-line better, so yeah, it'd be nice to have him back.

Fortunately, it does appear that the former second-round pick will be trending toward a Week 15 return. The offensive line desperately needs him!

Marshon Lattimore

Lattimore has not played since Week 5 when he injured his abdomen. Fans were hoping to see him back this past week for the big rematch against the Bucs but he ended up being inactive. Perhaps the Saints wanted to just wait and activate him after the bye week to give him an extra rest of rest.

While I wouldn't blame the Saints for shutting Lattimore down since the playoffs are no longer a viable option, if he does return, the secondary will be better. Alontae Taylor has gotten to play quite a bit in Lattimore's absence, which has been nice, but there's a reason NOLA extended Lattimore ahead of the 2021 season. He's one of the best corners in the league and this defense could really use him.

Pete Werner

One of the best players on the Saints' entire roster this year has been Werner but unfortunately, he's missed the four games with an ankle injury. The good news is that former seventh-round pick Kaden Elliss has played well while Werner has been gone but it's still really hard to replace the production Werner gives the Saints.

Before going down with the ankle injury, Werner had 74 tackles, three defended passes, and two forced fumbles. It'd be great to see him back after the bye week since he's one of the team's best tacklers.

While the Saints are pretty much out of playoff contention at this point (I don't care if it's still mathematically possible), it'd be nice to see these players return and help the team in their final four games.