Saints bring back Koda Martin to replace Trai Turner

There’s the guard we were looking for: the New Orleans Saints brought back Koda Martin after waiving him before training camp to open a roster spot for Trai Turner. Turner, the five-time Pro Bowler competing for a backup spot on his hometown team, went down with a season-ending injury at Friday’s training camp session. Martin’s return was listed on the daily NFL transactions wire.

So Martin is returning to the same spot he held a few weeks ago. He’ll reenter the fray for one of the last available roster spots behind Cesar Ruiz and Andrus Peat, though it’s clear that guys like Calvin Throckmorton and Nick Saldiveri have a leg up on him. He needs to show the Saints they were wrong to release him in the first place and outwork youngsters like Lewis Kidd and Mark Evans II.

Here’s what we wrote of Martin when he first signed with New Orleans back in January:

“Martin, 29, hasn’t seen many reps in the NFL since signing with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent back in 2019, though he played a handful of snaps on the field goal units and at right guard for the Arizona Cardinals in 2021. He finished his collegiate career at Syracuse, where he started all 13 games at right tackle as a senior in 2018; that’s after transferring from Texas A&M, where he started at left tackle as a junior.”
Are the Saints finished making moves at guard? Maybe, maybe not. There are still free agents available they could sign to add more competition to the room, and if they’re unimpressed by the state of competition they could also call around the league and see which players are available for trades.