Saints RB Mark Ingram has been suspended the first four games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs, according to Nick Underhill.
- Ian Rapoport reports that Ingram and his representatives have known about the looming suspension for several weeks.
- According to Rapoport, the Saints may have made Ingram available for trade, seeing as he’s in the final year of his contract and they have Alvin Kamara in place as their running back of the future. However, Ingram’s suspension would have impacted any potential deal.
- Rapoport says that Ingram hasn’t been around the team’s facility for conditioning and he won’t be with the team for OTAs.
Ingram will be allowed to participate in offseason practices and the preseason, but he won’t be able to play in a regular season game until the team’s Week 5 matchup against the Redskins.
The Saints will be without Ingram for games against the Buccaneers, Browns, Falcons and Giants.
New Orleans currently has Alvin Kamara, Trey Edmunds, Jonathan Williams and Boston Scott on their roster at running back, but it’s possible they could sign a free agent in the coming days to bolster their depth for the start of the season.
Ingram, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Saints back in 2011. He played out his rookie contract before returning to the Saints on a four-year, $16 million contract that included $7.6 million guaranteed a few years ago.
Ingram stands to make a base salary of $4 million in the final year of the agreement. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2019.
In 2017, Ingram appeared in all 16 games and rushed for 1,124 yards on 230 carries (4.9 YPC) to go along with 58 receptions for 416 yards receiving and 12 total touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 22 running back out of 60 qualifying players.
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