Washington Commanders fans celebrated their team making the league’s biggest move at the NFL trade deadline, but they’ll have to wait another week to get their first look at Marshon Lattimore. The former New Orleans Saints cornerback is still dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him for last Sunday’s game. Washington head coach Dan Quinn announced Wednesday that Lattimore won’t be able to play on Thursday night, either.
Hamstring issues have trailed Lattimore since his college days at Ohio State; it’s one reason he fell to the Saints in the 2017 NFL draft in the first place. They’ve continued to afflict Lattimore throughout his pro career including earlier this season.
Still, it’s a disappointing turn for a great talent. When he’s healthy and locked in there isn’t a better cover corner in the game than Lattimore. That’s why the Commanders traded so many draft picks to acquire him at the deadline. It’s on the Saints to make the most of those resources and prove that trading Lattimore when they did was worth it.
So will he be on the field when the Commanders visit the Caesars Superdome next month? That feels likely. By now it’s obvious there was nothing to the speculation suggesting Lattimore was taking his time recovering from injury to put pressure on New Orleans into trading him, but he should be fully recovered by the time he makes his return on Dec. 15, barring a setback. We’ll keep an eye on his progress but for now the Saints must focus on their next opponent, not one they’ll see a month from now.
