Alvin Kamara’s groin injury is “a little bit more significant” than the Saints first thought, but it is still unclear how many of New Orleans’ remaining three games he will miss, coach Darren Rizzi said on Thursday.
“He’s going to be week to week at the moment. And to be honest, it doesn’t look great for this week,” Rizzi said as his team got ready to play the Green Bay Packers on Monday night. “We’ll kind of play that one by ear whether that’s going to be multiple weeks.”
Rizzi also disagreed with the idea that quarterback Derek Carr won’t play again this season and said top receiver Chris Olave, who has had two known concussions this season, entered a 21-day period in which he may practice without being counted against the active roster.
Rizzi said the initial tests on Kamara showed that “it wasn’t really going to be that bad,” but now it is seen as “a little bit more significant, a little bit more missed time,” and the coach did not rule out surgery.
“There’s multiple opinions. There’s different ways to handle it,” Rizzi said. “All of us, medical staff, Alvin, everybody is just going to kind of take a deep breath here and kind of see what the best option is for him moving forward.”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get him back here by the end of the year, but we’ll see what happens,” Rizzi said.
Meanwhile, Rizzi said Carr “wants to play this season. He wants he wants to come back and play. There is absolutely zero doubt about that.”
“He’s in here every day doing everything he possibly can from a rehab standpoint to get himself back on the field,” Rizzi added.
The Saints haven’t ruled out Carr for Green Bay, even though he has not practiced since injuring his left, non-throwing hand during New Orleans’ 14-11 victory over the New York Giants two Sundays ago.
Spencer Rattler is preparing to start this week, Rizzi said, but only if Carr can’t play.
“I appreciate and respect the fact he wants to come back and play,” Rizzi said. “That’s why this thing’s day to day. We’re not going to put him in harm’s way. We’re going to make sure that he’s able to go out there and function. That’s really what it comes down to right now. When he can fully function, go out there and function in all the duties as a quarterback, he’ll be back on the field.
“If he was done for the season, we would have put him on (injured reserve) by now and we would have shut him down,” Rizzi continued. “That’s just not the case.”
Rizzi said it was “probably doubtful” that Olave would play again this season, but called the receiver being cleared for football activities “great news.”
“We’re going to take it step by step with him,” Rizzi said. “But I couldn’t be happier for him and more as a person than football player.”
