Saints Activate Payton Turner, Place Nephi Sewell on IR

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.

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.