The New Orleans Saints have placed Mark Ingram on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and now he will be out for the season. CJ Spiller and Tim Hightower will take over at running back for Drew Brees moving into Week 14 when the team takes on the Buccaneers and reports have Ingram recovering in time for next season.
The Saints have had another inconsistent season and now losing Ingram will make things a bit tougher moving forward over the final month. According to NFL.com, the Saints have placed Ingram on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, ending his 2015 season. Ingram has been dealing with the injury for a few weeks and has been able to play through it, but he now will be shut down for the rest of the year after being put on IR.
Ingram signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Saints this offseason and he had been very productive while being the lead back for New Orleans this season before getting injured. Ingram rushed for 769 yards in 12 games this season with six touchdowns and he put up 1174 total yards for the Saints. Ingram averaged a strong 4.6 yards per carry this season and now he will give way to Hightower and Spiller for the last month of the season. Ingram has dealt with injury issues in the past and he has missed eight games over the past two seasons combined.
According to ESPN.com, the Saints are unsure when Ingram aggravated the injury, as he was able to play the full game against the Panthers last week. Ingram was a limited participant in practice two weeks ago, but he was able to practice last week without any issues. According to ESPN.com, Mike Triplett reports that Hightower could take over as the "early-down back" with Ingram out for the season. Spiller is more of a third down and pass catching option and that could open things up for Hightower, who has 48 yards on 12 carries in four games for the Saints.
Spiller has not been used too much behind Ingram this season even with Khiry Robinson injured and that gives Hightower the chance to step up. Spiller has just 108 rushing yards this season in 11 games and while he has put up 29 catches for 216 yards, the team likely will split things between Hightower and Spiller over using one back extensively. Nick Underhill at the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes that the Saints likely will split carries between the two backs over making one player the feature running back for at least this week.
Brees has put up solid numbers again this season with 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but that is not quite up to what he usually puts up for the Saints. Last season Brees threw for nearly 5000 yards with 33 touchdowns, but this season he has 3482 yards in 12 games and will need to pick things up a bit. Brees is still a strong fantasy option and the Saints will rely on him even more with Ingram out.
