Banks Is Questionable, and the Offensive Line Has No Margin Left

Kelvin Banks Jr. came out of Week 2 with an ankle injury and is listed as questionable. That's the update. The context is what makes it uncomfortable.

The Saints lost Andrus Peat to retirement before camp opened and Dillon Radunz to a torn ACL in August. Both are gone for the year. What's left up front is thin, and the depth chart at tackle — Alex Wollschlaeger and Alan Herron behind the starters — reflects a group that was already being asked to hold things together before Banks got hurt. Jeremiah Wright is the only guard with a clear depth-chart designation. There isn't much behind any of it.

This matters because the whole offseason argument was about protecting the skill-position investment. You lock up Chris Olave for four years and $132 million, you keep Kamara around for a tenth season, you bring in Travis Etienne — and the implicit promise in all of that is that the quarterback and receivers will have time to operate. An offensive line that keeps absorbing losses makes that promise harder to keep. I've been writing about the Saints' continuity plan wobbling since before Week 1; Banks going down is just the latest thing pulling at the same thread.

He's questionable, not out. It may be fine. But this team has had very few things stay fine this fall.