Saints place veteran receiver Jarvis Landry on injured reserve

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — The New Orleans Saints placed veteran receiver Jarvis Landry on injured reserve on Thursday because of an ankle injury that has bothered him since early this season.

The move virtually ends the season for Landry and perhaps his stint with his hometown NFL club. Landry, who grew up about 40 miles west of New Orleans, joined the Saints on a one-year, $3 million free agent deal this past offseason.

On Saturday, the Saints are scheduled to play at Cleveland, where Landry spent his previous four seasons. New Orleans also will be without leading receiver and former Ohio State standout Chris Olave in that game because of his hamstring injury.

Now in his ninth NFL season out of LSU, Landry has played in nine games for New Orleans, catching 25 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown. He missed five games from Weeks 6 through 10 because of ankle soreness.

He was active for New Orleans' past five games, catching 10 passes for 104 yards and his lone TD during that stretch. 

But during last Sunday's victory over Atlanta, Landry was the intended receiver on just one pass and did not have a catch. Earlier this week, he missing practice again and was back on the injury report. 

Players placed on injured reserve must spend at least four games off of the active roster. The Saints (5-9) have three regular season games remaining and have an uphill climb to sneak into the playoffs.

New Orleans needs to make up two games in the standings on Tampa Bay (6-8), finish ahead of Carolina (5-9) and no worse than tied with Atlanta (5-9) in order to win the NFC South.

Notes: Saints top cornerback Marshon Lattimore, a first-round draft choice out of Ohio State in 2017, is listed as questionable for Saturday because of an abdomen injury that has sidelined him for nine games.