There’s the final member of the New Orleans Saints practice squad. After initially filling 15 of the 16 vacancies on their reserve list, the Saints brought in Drew Desjarlais to round out the group. Desjarlais, 25, started all 27 games he played in college at Windsor (in Ontario), though he split his time at both left and right guard. He’s continued to do that in the NFL — the New England Patriots signed him this summer and tried him out at both spots throughout their preseason games, though it remains to be seen where the Saints want him to focus.
But before he made the move to the NFL, Desjarlais won back-to-back Grey Cup championships with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021 (the Canadian league suspended play for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic), earning all-star recognition as a guard with 37 pro starts north of the border, predominately at left guard.
We’ll have to wait and see if any practice squad players are let go, but for now Desjarlais rounds out a group that includes fellow interior linemen Josh Andrews and Nick Martin, who were two of the more-experienced centers available following Tuesday’s final wave of NFL roster cuts. Having all three of them in the building provides a lot of depth behind Erik McCoy, Andrus Peat, Cesar Ruiz, Calvin Throckmorton, and Tanner Owen on the 53-man roster.
