Saints WR Willie Snead IV suspended 3 games for personal conduct violation

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Snead IV has been suspended for the first three games of the 2017 NFL regular season.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Snead was punished for “a personal conduct violation that stemmed from an off-season DUI.” The initial NFL ban for Snead was four games but reduced by one on appeal, reports NFL’com’s Ian Rapoport.

“Just what you do, I know Mickey (Loomis) talked with the league office today and obviously when it involves a player suspension to start the season, clubs are made aware of it and you have to adjust your roster accordingly, but we are aware of it and on top of it and that will factor into how we go into planning for the early part of this season. Obviously it’s unfortunate and I think knowing Willie (Snead) it’s a bit surprising and we kind of go from there,” said Saints coach Sean Payton.

An undrafted free agent success story out of Ball State in 2014, Snead has amassed 141 catches for 1,879 yards and seven touchdowns with New Orleans including 895 yards and four scores last season.

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Conference Call with New Orleans Media

Friday, September 1, 2017

What do you know about Willie Snead IV’s three-game suspension?

“Just what you do, I know Mickey (Loomis) talked with the league office today and obviously when it involves a player suspension to start the season, clubs are made aware of it and you have to adjust your roster accordingly, but we are aware of it and on top of it and that will factor into how we go into planning for the early part of this season. Obviously it’s unfortunate and I think knowing Willie (Snead) it’s a bit surprising and we kind of go from there.”

It was just reported that Snead had a DUI this offseason. Is that accurate?

“That is accurate.”

With Corey Fuller on injured reserve is it fair to assume Tommylee Lewis has a good chance to move into a more prominent role in Willie’s place?
“Again I won’t get into specifics rosterwise. Today we made a few moves and tomorrow there’ll be more that we have to make. There’s a lot in flux right now rosterwise. I would not want to speculate either way in regards to our personnel.”

Have you made any decisions on Terron Armstead and Delvin Breaux?

“None of those yet, those will be something we do here within the next day.”

Michael Mauti hasn’t made it with the team according to reports?

“He’s one of those guys that we think a lot of. He has a tremendous amount of courage and heart. To go through what he had to go through this offseason it obviously puts you behind when you’re not involved in a full offseason. But when the summer finished up he was able to kind of get back in the swing of things. I thought he played better towards the end of camp, particularly last night. He (had) some of his better snaps in the special teams (snaps) and it just came down to a decision we had made. When it involves a player like that that epitomizes everything that you’re looking for, those are the ones that are more difficult and I’m pulling for him and we’ll see what transpires here over the weekend. But he’s a special guy.”

Does that mean that Adam Bighill perhaps did make the team?

“That doesn’t mean anything other than what I just said.”

How do you determine which guys you cut today? Are you going to make all the cuts today or will you make some of them tomorrow? Any rhyme or reason?

“Over the next two days. Some are today and some are tomorrow. It’s hard to describe. A lot of it is position-specific. A lot of it is practice squad-specific. A lot of it is weighing the health of some of your current players.”

What’s your practice plan for next week? Bonus practice day on Monday?

“We’ll still have a bonus day Monday. Then, their day off will be Tuesday. Wednesday we’ll get them back in the base.”