Saints shake up their depth chart at defensive tackle after rookie minicamp
The New Orleans Saints signed one of the free agent tryouts from their recent rookie minicamp, former Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Kendal Vickers. Backup defensive tackle John Penisini was waived to open a roster spot for him. The Saints announced Vickers’ signing as well as the pickup of offensive lineman Lucas Patrick on Monday.
Vickers, 28, was college teammates with Alvin Kamara at Tennessee and has been in the NFL since 2018, making most of his appearances with the Raiders from 2020 to 2022 (alongside Derek Carr). He’s spent time with a couple of different teams over the years and entered the league as an undrafted free agent signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He finished the 2023 season with the Arizona Cardinals.
He joins a depth chart that includes Nathan Shepherd, Khalen Saunders, Bryan Bresee, Khristian Boyd, Jack Heflin, and Kyler Baugh. The Saints typically roster four defensive tackles and activate them all on game days while keeping a fifth in reserve on the practice squad in case of an injury. We’ll see who makes the cut after training camp this summer.
