Saints DE Payton Turner had negative X-rays on injured ankle, taking further exams

John Sigler

Mon, Nov 21, 2022, 12:19 PM·1 min read

#Saints DE Payton Turner, one of their younger player who has impressed as of late, had X-Rays on his ankle that were negative, source said. The hope is his injury — which happened right after a key short-yardage stop — is just an ankle sprain. But he's having an MRI today
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 21, 2022

This is good news, though it’s not time to celebrate just yet. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that New Orleans Saints defensive end Payton Turner returned negative X-rays on his injured ankle after leaving Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Rams on a trainer’s cart. That suggests Turner avoided any broken bones, but he’ll undergo an MRI on Monday to help clarify his injury outlook.

So hold off on any sighs of relief. Even if Turner just suffered a sprained ankle, that could still keep him sidelined for weeks — or longer, depending on the severity. It’s an unfortunate situation for the young player. Turner was injured after leading the charge on a fourth-down stop against the Rams offense, and was pulling himself out of the pile to walk away after the play was over when a Rams player fell on top of his leg.

He didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s nothing he could have done to prevent it. It’s impossible to prepare for something like that, but a stroke of bad luck like this kind of defines the Saints’ injury situation this year. They’ve dealt with broken bones and bruised internal organs all year long. It’s been about as frustrating an experience as you could think of.