We suspected something was going on here, but now it’s official. New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor was conspicuously sidelined for the team’s first preseason game on Sunday. With many of his teammates dressed out and warming up, even if they didn’t ultimately play (as was the case for Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Cameron Jordan, Erik McCoy, and others), Taylor watched everything unfold in street clothes along with a couple of players managing injuries. Now we know he’s one of them.

Saints coach Kellen Moore shared brief medical updates on a couple of players after Tuesday’s practice session, including Taylor: “Mason Pline, Will Clapp will be season injuries. Bub Means will be out a little while with an ankle. The other guys that are going through their process: Trevor Penning and Alontae Taylor, they will be out a little while as they come back from an injury. And then we had a couple of guys, J.T. Gray and Devin Neal, they’ll be a little bit longer just with their recovery process.”

Advertisement

Taylor has been diagnosed with a groin muscle injury after pulling up late in the scrimmage session last Friday. It’s tough for him to lose practice reps in a new system like anybody else, but it does help that he’s one of the more battle-tested defensive backs in the locker room. This isn’t his first rodeo. While he’s a starter outside, on paper, most of his snaps will be played from the slot with another player coming in off the bench. Like most teams, the Saints expect to run a lot of personnel out of nickel and dime packages with Brandon Staley calling their defense.

Still, it’s a good reminder that you can’t have enough cornerbacks. New Orleans is bringing back Kool-Aid McKinstry as a second-year starter, and the Saints re-signed Isaac Yiadom in free agency as an experienced backup. Rookie fourth-round pick Quincy Riley has played really well this summer. Rico Payton is doing everything he can to win a roster spot for the second year in a row. If Taylor’s injury lingers, guys like Payton stand to benefit the most from the downstream effect of more practice reps opening up. Hopefully this isn’t a major concern for Taylor, but you’d still like to see those players further down the depth chart step up.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Kellen Moore: Saints CB Alontae Taylor will miss time with injury