Trufant hadn’t dressed for a game since Week 2’s road loss to the Carolina Panthers, having been pushed down the depth chart in the Bradley Roby trade. He’s been behind Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, and Roby for snaps with P.J. Williams also getting in on game days for his role as the dime back. But he’s still got potential to push for a starting job somewhere and the Saints are giving him the opportunity to pursue that.

Additionally, choosing to release Trufant at this juncture suggests Ken Crawley is close to being activated from injured reserve. He was projected to start opposite Lattimore (ahead of Adebo) in Week 1 after a stellar training camp but went down with a preseason injury. He probably won’t get into games now that the secondary depth has increased, but having him and Trufant both would be redundant, if reassuring. You can’t have too many corners.

You can’t cut healthy players, but you can release them from injured reserve by agreeing to pay the salary of however many games they can expect to miss while recovering from an injury. That’s what the Saints have done for Parkey after he hurt himself warming up for Sunday’s game with the Washington Football Team. Ironically, the same thing happened to Brett Maher in preseason. Hopefully Parkey recovers well. He wasn’t in New Orleans long enough for any sports photographers to get an image we could use in this writeup.

Like Parkey, Poole was also released with an injury settlement. But he spent the first five weeks of the season on injured reserve recovering from a preseason ailment, and now he has an opportunity to play again in 2021 once he’s received a clean bill of health. He had a good summer with the Saints and was on track to make the opening-day lineup until he got hurt, so like Trufant he can start to explore interest from other teams.

By NFL rules, Johnson must remain on the 53-man roster for the next three games (not three weeks) after leaving Chicago’s practice squad, so we should assume Wil Lutz won’t return from injured reserve until at least Week 10’s road game with the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 14. That’s brutal considering how badly the Saints have needed their Pro Bowl leg. The good news is that Johnson has a very steady resume for a rookie, nailing both of his tries in preseason for the Bears (including a 54-yarder) while  connecting on 76.1% of his field goals at Virginia Tech (making all but one under 39 yards). He also nailed all 131 of his point-after attempts in his Hokies career, something none of his predecessors have done.

And for the Jake Verity holdouts: NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports the Saints looked into adding him instead, but Verity is currently recovering from an injury and unable to leave the Baltimore Ravens.

Ringo was released last week in a procedural move to open a roster spot for Kenny Stills’ promotion from the practice squad. Because he’s a vested veteran (those with four or more years’ NFL experience) he wasn’t eligible for the waiver wire and could safely leave and return to the roster without another team poaching him. Another player like, say, Lil’Jordan Humphrey would have to clear waivers before landing on the Saints practice squad.

Unlike the various players on injury lists, David Onyemata won’t be able to return after Week 6’s bye. He’s suspended for six games (not weeks) and must wait a little longer until he can rejoin the team. Holding onto Ringo for Week 7’s game with the Seattle Seahawks makes sense with Onyemata’s 2021 debut waiting around the corner.

Kelly made the team last year as a backup, but he had to settle for a spot on the practice squad this season. He was one of a couple reserves waiting in the wings while left tackle Terron Armstead recovered from an elbow injury, and the decision to let Kelly go now might suggest Armstead is close to coming back. That would be a huge get for the Saints offensive line moving forwards. Because Armstead was never sent to injured reserve, he simply needs to begin practicing next week whenever the team doctors clear him.

Other backups of note include James Hurst (who has started in Armstead’s place), rookie draft pick Landon Young, and two veterans on the practice squad in Jordan Mills and Caleb Benenoch.

McManis made a strong case for a roster spot in preseason and provided quality depth on the practice squad, but like some of these other veteran players cutting him now should give him an opportunity to land with another team. He wasn’t going to get many minutes in New Orleans, and letting him go now also suggests the Saints could be getting some linebackers back from injured reserve — both Kwon Alexander and Chase Hansen are eligible to suit up after Week 6.

The depth chart as it currently stands includes Demario Davis and Pete Werner at the top, with Kaden Elliss and Zack Baun backing them up while Andrew Dowell plays often on special teams. Dowell, Hansen, and McManis were locked in a three-way competition for two roster spots over the summer and Alexander should start if healthy, so it’s unclear how this situation will develop.