The New Orleans Saints saw tight ends Juwan Johnson and Treyton Welch leave Wednesday's practice because of an injury. When the Saints took the field on Thursday, Johnson was back on the field in full pads.
Johnson and Welch were joined by John Ridgeway III as the players who went down with injury. Kellen Moore asserted he didn't believe the injuries were significant and would provide an update after evaluations. Johnson proved Moore right before his head coach even had a chance to speak to the media.
Seeing Johnson on the field was a welcomed sight. The Saints are already without Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill. Johnson's presence confirmed there was no long-term absence imminent and kept the top face in the room on the field.
Juwan Johnson quickly bounced back from a groin injury
Moore was light on details after Wednesday's practice. All he would give up is that he didn't believe Johnson would miss much time. There was no specificities on what the injury was or when it happened. ESPN's Katherine Terrell mentioned Johnson was present for walkthroughs before being out of practice in her questioning to Moore. That's as close as we got to a timetable.
Late Wednesday night, Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz gave some insight on what the Saints' lead tight end was dealing with. Per Shultz's report, Johnson had a groin injury and the expectation was for him " to miss a few days at most"
Johnson beat that short timetable by missing no days. The Saints needed that. Though it wasn't expected to be a long-term injury, Moore mentioned that Johnson and Welch missing time had the potential to push the Saints away from using certain formations and personnel in practice.
Though it may seem minor, being pushed to that extreme cuts off a section of the playbook. When implementing a new system while also developing your quarterbacks, it's not a place you'd want to get to.