Injuries have plagued the New Orleans Saints over the past few seasons, predominantly because their roster was one of the oldest in the NFL for many of those years. Now, with the team focusing more on a young core to build around, the hope is that injuries will be more circumstantial and less common, given many of these players are coming in with minimal professional playing time.

Unfortunately, injuries do still pile up. And regardless of any outside factors, including another new training staff. One example that just occurred in the first preseason game was second-year wide receiver Bub Means, who missed much of his rookie campaign with an ankle injury. Now, he will miss the entirety of his 2025 season, as he has suffered a new setback with another ankle injury, and has been placed on season-ending injured reserve per Wednesday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire. Means had sought a second opinion on his ankle, but his year is over.

Advertisement

NFL rules dictate that players put on injured reserve before the regular season starts are done for the year, unless they later agree to an injury settlement and miss a certain amount of time before signing with a different team. Either way, Means won’t be playing for the Saints in 2025. He’ll join offensive linemen Nick Saldiveri and Will Clapp as well as tight end Mason Pline on I.R.

New Orleans recently signed receiver Roderick Daniels Jr. following the injury, potentially indicating that they knew this would be a long-term setback for the sophomore receiver. Unfortunately, Means will not have an opportunity to show his skillset once again, after some promising snaps back in 2024.

Hopefully, he is able to break this streak of ankle injuries and prepare himself for the 2026 campaign so that he can make a strong case for a starting role. For now, though, he will have to work hard to push for recovery and find a way to push past this untimely setback.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints sophomore WR Bub Means heads to season-ending injured reserve