Promising Injury Update on Saints Edge Rusher

New Orleans Saints edge rusher Payton Turner suffered what appeared to be a severe ankle injury in his team's 27-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but the second-year player got some good news on Monday. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Turner's initial X-rays came back negative, indicating he might be dealing with a relatively mild ankle sprain.

#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

Turner played 13 snaps in the Saints' win over the Rams before being carted off the field, tallying a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. He has totalled 2.0 sacks and five tackles for loss for the Saints in seven appearances this year.

Sunday's win kept the Saints alive in what has been an underwhelming NFC South through 11 weeks of the regular season. At 4-7, they remain within striking distance of the division-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who sport a 5-5 record. The Saints lost their first matchup 20-10 against the Bucs in Week 2, but they'll get a shot to tie up the season series in Week 12.

Turner joined the Saints as their 28th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was slotted into a rotational edge rusher role behind starters Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport and has earned limited playing time in his two years with the team. The Saints should be able to get by if he misses time: he has played a mere 304 defensive snaps since the team acquired him.