Cutting Kendre Miller won't fix a Saints run game that managed 18 yards

The Saints cut their leading rusher on Saturday, and I'm fine with it. What I'm not fine with is anybody in New Orleans treating it like a fix, because Kendre Miller didn't break that run game and losing him won't heal it.

Here's what the team announced. Jordyn Tyson, the eighth overall pick in this year's draft, came off injured reserve along with left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., and both are set to play Sunday against Cleveland. To make room, the Saints waived Miller and tight end Treyton Welch, and they elevated Zamir White from the practice squad. ESPN added that New Orleans had already claimed Audric Estime off waivers from the Browns, a back who spent last year and camp with the Saints before they let him go with an injury settlement.

Now look at what Miller actually "led." He was the Saints' top rusher with 159 yards this season. Leading your team with 159 yards is a cry for help. And in the last game before the bye, a 16-10 loss to Pittsburgh in Paris, the whole team ran for 18 yards. Eighteen. You can't pin that on one running back unless he was also playing guard, tackle and offensive coordinator.

The best argument for the move is simple, and it's true. Tyson needed a roster spot, somebody had to go, and a third-round back from 2023 with a thin résumé is the easiest name on the sheet to cross off. Fair enough. Nobody's starting a petition for Kendre Miller. I'm not even saying they cut the wrong guy.

I'm saying the move that matters for the run game is Banks. A left tackle coming back from ankle surgery does more for an 18-yard rushing day than any back you can find on the waiver wire, and Estime is literally a back the Saints found on the waiver wire after already deciding once that they could do without him. Swapping Miller for Estime and White is rearranging the backfield. Getting Banks back is rearranging the line of scrimmage, and that's where 18 yards comes from.

Tyson's the fun part, and I get why that's the headline. An eighth overall pick who's been waiting since an Aug. 13 hamstring injury in a joint practice against Jacksonville finally gets to play. But a rookie receiver can't make a defense respect a run game that doesn't exist. Cleveland's going to sit on him until somebody gives it a reason not to.

So here's my dare. If the Saints run for something like 18 yards again on Sunday with Banks back and a new pair of backs, nobody gets to blame the running back this time. The next cut should come from the people drawing up the runs, and I'll say it now so nobody accuses me of piling on after the fact.

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