Saints LT Kelvin Banks Beats Absurd Injury Timeline, Set to Return

The New Orleans Saints are apparently employing medical wizards, because left tackle Kelvin Banks is already gearing up to return to the lineup. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Saturday that the team plans to activate their blindside protector just weeks after he went under the knife.

For anyone who missed the initial carnage in September, Banks was carted off the field with a high ankle sprain. Head coach Kellen Moore confirmed he needed surgery and slapped him with the dreaded indefinite timeline, which is usually coach-speak for seeing a guy next training camp.

"Jeremy Fowler reported: 'Saints plan to activate left tackle Kelvin Banks, per sources. Quick recovery for Banks, whose high ankle sprain in September required surgery.'"

Instead, Banks is treating a surgically repaired ankle like a minor inconvenience. A normal high ankle sprain usually lingers for months and turns elite athletes into guys who look like they are running in wet denim. Having actual hardware installed and beating the standard recovery timeline by a mile is objectively absurd.

The Saints desperately needed this minor miracle. When Banks went on injured reserve, New Orleans was forced to scramble. They even held emergency tryouts for free-agent linemen after backup Asim Richards had a remarkably shaky debut trying to fill the void.

Getting a franchise left tackle back completely changes the geometry of an offense. If you are looking at the lines for this weekend, factoring in a clean pocket is a massive variable. You cannot run a functional modern passing game when your quarterback is constantly checking his peripheral vision for unblocked edge rushers.

New Orleans hosts the Cleveland Browns this Sunday evening, and the timing could not be better. Throwing a guy fresh off ankle surgery right back into the fire against an NFL defensive front is a massive test, but if Banks is cleared, he is instantly the best option they have.

The real question now is whether Banks can anchor against power rushers without that ankle barking. If he looks like his old self, the Saints just got their most important offensive building block back right when the schedule starts getting heavy.