This isn’t a loss the New Orleans Saints could afford. Second-year left guard Nick Saldiveri was filling in for Lucas Patrick against the Los Angeles Rams when his left leg buckled under him during a play, leaving the young pro grasping at his knee as team medical staff attended to him.
Saldiveri was carted off for further evaluation. That made him the third interior lineman to miss this game due to injury; both Patrick and starting center Erik McCoy were preemptively ruled out on the inactive list. Unfortunately for Saldiveri, this is a bit of a pattern for him. He’s dealt with calf and shoulder issues ever since the Saints drafted him out of Old Dominion and tasked him with learning left guard after a college career spent mostly at right tackle.
So their depth was being tested by the Rams. Veteran backup Landon Young stepped in to the left guard spot to relieve Saldiveri, though undrafted rookie Kyle Hergel was also an option. We’ll have to wait and see whether this injury was as serious as it looked.
