Saints Activate Payton Turner, Place Nephi Sewell on IR

The Saints get back their 2021 first-rounder for the regular season finale after he got hurt in the opener.

John Hendrix | Jan 5, 2024

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New Orleans Saints

The Saints announced two transactions on Friday afternoon, as they have placed linebacker Nephi Sewell on injured reserve while activating Payton Turner in a corresponding move.

Sewell got hurt against the Buccaneers on a non-contact injury when his cleat got stuck in the grass on the Alontae Taylor interception. It's an ACL injury that will require surgery, and it'll be a long road back for him. He was a key special teams player who made some major strides on the defense this year.

Saints Final Injury Report | Week 18

As for Turner, he officially returns after his turf toe injury that required surgery from Week 1 against the Titans. Dennis Allen revealed during his end of the week press conference that he's expected to play on Sunday against the Falcons. We'll see what type of workload Turner gets, as it's a mildly important game for him.

It's been a very unfortunate year for the former first-round pick from 2021, as he was having a tremendous training camp and preseason before getting hurt. The reality is that he's appeared in 14 games for the Saints since his rookie season.

Published Jan 5, 2024

JOHN HENDRIX

I officially started covering the New Orleans Saints & other NFL topics in 2011. My work has been featured on various outlets over the years. I worked closely with Skyhorse Publishing in Fall 2018 to update the book, Tales From the New Orleans Saints Sidelines, which filled in all Saints material from the 2013-2017 seasons. Prior to joining Saints News Network, I served as the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Canal Street Chronicles for 3.5 years, and before that with FanSided's Who Dat Dish as the Managing Editor for several years. I have also had experiences of being a freelance Saints reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, MS and a contributing writer for WDSU, a local NBC TV station in New Orleans. I have appeared on a vast amount of TV and Radio shows, both nationally and locally. For tips, comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnhendrix@saintsnews.net