There’s another domino falling on the New Orleans Saints offseason: ESPN’s Katherine Terrell first reported that starting free safety Marcus Maye has been sentenced to six months of probation after being charged with driving under the influence in Florida back in 2021. Terrell adds that he’ll also have his driver’s license suspended during that six-month span, on top of 50 hours’ worth of community service.
With the legal proceedings behind Maye, the NFL can now issue its own discipline — likely a three-week suspension at some point during the 2023 regular season. Maye was limited to just 10 games last season, his first in New Orleans, due to various injuries. It’s all but certain he’ll miss more time in Year 2 with the ramifications from this off-field incident.
But that might take some time for the league office to work out. Alvin Kamara’s three-game suspension was handed down nearly a month after he closed both court cases stemming from last year’s brawl in Las Vegas.
With the start of the regular season just three weeks away, the Saints may not learn when Maye will be unavailable until after they’ve played a game or two. The good news is New Orleans runs deeper in the secondary than anywhere else; if Maye is out of the picture for multiple games, they have other veterans to lean on at safety like Tyrann Mathieu, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Johnathan Abram, Ugo Amadi, and J.T. Gray as well as youngers Jordan Howden and Smoke Monday.
