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Trent Dilfer, Gary Horton, Mel Kiper Jr. and Matt Williamson got together and came up with an outstanding project that looks a few years down the road. Check out this Insider post in which they have NFL Future Power Rankings for all teams.

The rankings are based on what the panel projects teams will look like in the 2015 season. The panel used the following criteria -- roster, quarterback, draft, front office and coaching staff -- and weighed each in order of importance to come up with the rankings. You can see a more detailed explanation of the methodology here.

From an NFC South perspective, the rankings don’t look all that different than in recent years or what most people are projecting in 2012.

The panel says the New Orleans Saints, who have won two of the past three division titles, will be the division’s best team in 2015. The panel notes the bounty scandal and its punishments, but the consensus seems to be that the Saints can overcome that because there’s a strong nucleus in place, as well as a good coaching staff and front office. Horton notes the Saints have to build around guys like Jimmy Graham and Mark Ingram in the future. I think it’s true that the Saints have to develop some more young stars in the next few years. But, as long as Drew Brees is the quarterback, the Saints should be a top-10 team.

After the Saints, there’s a bit of a surprise. Although the Saints and Falcons have been the class of the division in recent years, the panel doesn’t see that quite being the case in 2015. The Falcons are No. 13 and the Panthers are No. 12.

Let’s start with why the Panthers are viewed as a team on the rise. Dilfer sums it up well by saying quarterback Cam Newton has an incredibly high ceiling. In 2015, Newton will be just approaching that ceiling. There’s no doubt the future looks bright for Carolina, but the Panthers may have to replace long-time stars Jordan Gross and Steve Smith before too long.

I disagree with the panel slightly on the placement of the Falcons. I think Atlanta will be a top-10 team in 2015 and probably each year between now and then. I agree with the panel that the Falcons have some old players at several positions, but I think general manager Thomas Dimitroff gradually will address those issues. As long as Matt Ryan and Julio Jones stay healthy and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon continues to emerge as a defensive star, I think the Falcons will be an annual playoff contender.

The Buccaneers are No. 19. While that ranking is last in the division, the Bucs have been in the 20s and 30s in a lot of recent rankings. The panel sounds optimistic about the Bucs in discussing the young talent and the new coaching staff. But there are a lot of unknowns. If quarterback Josh Freeman can get his career back on track and coach Greg Schiano can make the transition from college to the NFL, I think the Bucs have a real chance to jump up in the rankings when 2015 actually rolls around.

» NFC draft analysis: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

The 2012 NFL draft won’t be remembered as the flashiest in NFC South history. That honor belongs to the 2011 draft -- probably forever.

It’s tough to top a draft in which quarterback Cam Newton went No. 1 to Carolina, Atlanta traded up for receiver Julio Jones and New Orleans traded back into the first round to get running back Mark Ingram. Aside from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' pretty good splash, this year’s NFC South draft wasn’t filled with drama.

Instead, it was filled with very deliberate picks that addressed big needs all around the division.

BEST MOVE

No pick set the division's tone for this draft better than Carolina's selection of Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly at No. 9 overall.

There’s nothing really flashy about Kuechly, but the Panthers didn’t need flash this time around. They got that with Newton, and he gave them a prolific offense. But that offense was only enough to carry the Panthers to a 6-10 record last season. Carolina couldn’t play defense, and opponents have run all over the Panthers the last few seasons.

A lot of people thought the Panthers should go with a defensive tackle in the first round. But there were two reasons they didn’t. They weren’t enamored of any of the first-round prospects at that position. They also feel pretty good about what they already have at defensive tackle. Ron Edwards, a big free-agent pickup last year, is coming back from an injury that kept him out last season, and the Panthers think he can anchor their defensive line. They also used two third-round picks on defensive tackles Terrell McClain and Sione Fua last year.

The Panthers believe they have the personnel to clog up the middle. Kuechly should be able to come in and do what he does best. He can roam the field and be the kind of tackling machine he was in college. This guy had as few flaws as any player in the draft and is ready to make an instant impact. It remains to be seen whether Keuchly or Jon Beason will play the middle and which one will slide outside. It doesn’t really matter. Either way, the Panthers now have a deep linebacker corps that should be able to stop just about any running game.

RISKIEST MOVE

You could say the Saints made a risky move by using their first draft pick on a player who didn’t even play his college ball in the United States. They drafted Regina (Canada) defensive tackle Akiem Hicks with the No. 89 overall pick in the third round.

The fact Hicks didn’t play against elite completion means there is obvious risk with this pick. But why not take a shot when you’re this late in the third round? Hicks has tremendous upside, and he was good enough to be recruited to LSU before leaving for Canada. The Saints have a great history of discovering gems (Jimmy Graham, Jahri Evans and Marques Colston) later in the draft. They took a risk, but it might pay off.

Hicks should at least have a chance at some playing time early on. The Saints don’t have much behind Brodrick Bunkley and Sedrick Ellis at defensive tackle. Hicks could end up in the rotation very quickly, and the Saints could end up looking very smart for taking this risk.

MOST SURPRISING MOVE

The Bucs haven’t been exciting in any way in quite some time. But they provided virtually all of the excitement within the division in this draft. General manager Mark Dominik shrewdly made some trades that gave the Bucs the ammunition to move up twice and come out of the draft with three instant starters.

Get over the fact that Dominik used the No. 7 overall pick on a safety, Alabama’s Mark Barron. The Bucs weren’t sold on LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne for reasons we don’t know. They were sold on Barron, and safety might have been the weakest position on their roster heading into the draft. Trading down from No. 5 to No. 7 started a process in which Dominik was able to manipulate the draft with trades that gave him two other starters -- running back Doug Martin and outside linebacker Lavonte David.

The Bucs traded back into the first round to get Martin late Thursday night. They were without a second-round pick Friday night. But they saw David sitting there, they had the ammunition, and they pounced. No NFC South team needed more help from this draft than the Buccaneers, and Dominik made sure they got help that will matter right from the start.

FILE IT AWAY

Atlanta’s selection of Wisconsin fullback Bradie Ewing in the fifth round might not seem like a big deal on the surface. For now, Ewing is probably nothing more than a special-teams player. But the Falcons also were looking a year or two down the road when they made this pick. Veteran fullback Ovie Mughelli is coming off a major injury, and he’ll turn 32 in June. It was time to find someone to groom as Mughelli’s eventual successor.

Check out this Insider post by long-time NFL general manager Bill Polian.

In strong detail, he lays out a four-point plan on how the New Orleans Saints should move forward after the initial wave of punishments for their bounty program (more discipline could come for players in the form of suspensions or fines). Polian talks about how important it is to quickly put someone into the place of coach Sean Payton for a year, how the Saints might have to move on without defensive leader Jonathan Vilma because he could be suspended and how the Saints need to come up with a strong plan for the draft, even though they don’t have picks in the first or second round (the second-round pick was forfeited as part of the punishment and the first-round pick was traded last year as the Saints moved up to draft Mark Ingram).

All of those are important, but Polian also talks about something else that’s even more significant. He says it’s crucial that the Saints sign quarterback Drew Brees to a long-term contract extension immediately. Brees currently is carrying the franchise tag. He hasn’t signed his tender and, if something doesn’t happen soon, Brees could stay away from the offseason program that starts in mid-April.

“With all of the instability now surrounding this franchise, it is imperative to lock up the player who acts as its cornerstone,’’ Polian wrote.

Polian said the Saints need Brees in the offseason program “to steady the team and help shoulder the leadership burden’’.

I couldn’t agree more with Polian. In fact, the Saints should have had Brees signed to a long-term deal long before now. That hasn’t happened and it has to change.

The best thing the Saints can do right now to start the healing process is to make Brees happy and let him come in and carry the franchise through some very challenging times.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced heavy penalties (suspensions, a heavy fine and the forfeiture of draft picks) against the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday. But this story is far from over.

Let’s take a look at what else might happen.

What’s left to come?

Pat Yasinskas: Disciplinary action against the players. The NFL has said anywhere from 22 to 27 players were actively involved in a three-year bounty program in which Saints’ defenders were offered financial incentives to intentionally injure opponents. The players also were involved in funding the programs. Goodell has said there will be disciplinary action against the players, but he didn’t announce it when he revealed the suspensions for coach Sean Payton, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, assistant head coach Joe Vitt, general manager Mickey Loomis, a $500,000 fine for the team, and the loss of second-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013.

That’s because Goodell has agreed to allow the NFL Players Association some time to complete an independent investigation into the situation. Goodell is expected to meet soon with union leader DeMaurice Smith and will listen to recommendations on penalties. The ultimate decision on that rests with Goodell, and given the severity of the punishment he already has handed out, look for the penalties against players to also be harsh.

Expect multiple suspensions and heavy fines. Goodell is intent on making sure nothing like this ever happens again. He already got the message out to coaches and administrators. But he also has to make it clear to players.

When will those penalties come?

PY: Unless Goodell and Smith meet very quickly, there probably will be a little lag time on this. The annual NFL spring meeting begins Monday in Palm Beach, Fla., and Goodell will have to travel there sometime over the weekend. Once the meeting gets started, he’ll be tied up with other matters.

The likely scenario is that an announcement will come late next week or early the following week.

Which players have the most to lose?

PY: It’s hard to say, because the NFL’s report didn’t go into a lot of specific details on players. But the one player that was singled out in the report was New Orleans middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma. The NFL said he was responsible for placing a $10,000 bounty of former Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre. That’s not going to look good when a decision on his punishment is made. It’s likely Vilma will face a multiple-game suspension, and he probably will be the player with the most severe punishment.

But it’s not likely to end with Vilma. The NFL obviously turned up a lot of details in its investigation, but held back details on specific players. Those details likely will come out when discipline for players is announced. Expect more suspensions and plenty of fines.

Will the NFL stagger the suspensions, or will they all come at the same time in the 2012 season?

PY: Keep in mind, the punishment on this one isn’t likely to be limited to just the Saints. There are former New Orleans defenders scattered about the league, and some are out of the NFL. They’re still subject to discipline. But it’s likely the Saints will have multiple defenders facing penalties. If a lot of them are facing multiple-game suspensions, the NFL might have to stagger the suspensions. You could argue the penalties already have put the Saints at a competitive disadvantage. But forcing them to play multiple games without, let’s just say for example, half their defense, would make the Saints completely non-competitive. If there are a lot of players suspended, the NFL might have to spread things out.

How will the Saints replace the suspended players?

PY: Again, much will depend on the number of players suspended. But the fact that Loomis will be allowed to work through the offseason, and begin his suspension just before the regular season opens, will give him time to put a plan in place. He’s likely to go heavy on defensive players in the draft, although the Saints won’t have a pick in the first two rounds (the first-round pick was lost last year when the Saints traded up to get Mark Ingram. The second-round choice was forfeited as part of the punishment). So the Saints might have to play some of their middle-round draft picks very early in the season.

The Saints already have added free-agent defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, and have had multiple free-agent linebackers in for visits. The Saints have been active in free agency throughout the Loomis/Payton era. But there’s an additional challenge this year, because the Saints are very tight against the salary cap. Part of the issue is that quarterback Drew Brees is currently carrying the franchise tag while he and the team try to work out a long-term contract. A new deal isn’t likely to free up much cap room. In fact, unless there’s some unusual structure to it, Brees’ cap figure will probably be in the $19 million range. But the Saints need to get him signed just to create some stability.

Then, there are other ways Loomis can work with the cap. There are several players who could be released to free up cap room, and several other contracts that easily could be restructured. There’s little doubt the Saints will remain players in free agency. They also could catch a bit of an in-season cap break. Once players begin suspensions, they don’t count against the cap. They’ll again count against the cap once they are reinstated, but their pro-rated salary for the games they miss won’t continue to count against the cap, because they won’t be paid for the games they miss due to suspension.

Tuesday’s news that Baltimore Ravens running back Ricky Williams is retiring comes with a bit of an NFC South angle.

Williams once was the biggest thing to ever hit the New Orleans Saints. Remember the 1999 draft, when the Saints traded away all their picks from that year, plus a couple more for the following year, for the right to draft Williams?

Yeah, it made headlines all over the place because it was one of the most daring trades ever -- we’re talking way more daring and dangerous than what the Falcons gave up to get Julio Jones or what the Saints gave up to get Mark Ingram in the 2011 draft.

It was the biggest deal coach Mike Ditka made and (along with a 3-13 record that season) it led to the end of his coaching career.

When coach Jim Haslett arrived the next season, Williams had some success. He had two 1,000-yard seasons, but there were issues. Williams was a unique personality. He didn’t interact a lot with teammates and often conducted interviews behind the shield of his helmet.

"Ricky's just a different guy," former New Orleans receiver Joe Horn once said. "People he wanted to deal with, he did. And people he wanted to have nothing to do with, he didn't. No one could understand that. I don't think guys in the locker room could grasp that he wanted to be to himself -- you know, quiet. If you didn't understand him and didn't know what he was about, it always kept people in suspense."

Haslett was in suspense or, at the very least, never quite could figure out Williams. That’s part of the reason Deuce McAllister was drafted. By the end of the 2001 season, in which Williams rushed for 1,245 yards and caught 60 passes, Haslett was pretty clear that Williams didn’t fit his long-term plans.

In the spring of 2002, the Saints traded Williams to the Miami Dolphins. They were able to get back some of what they initially gave up for Williams by getting four draft picks, including two first-round choices, in return.

Williams’ career would go on to have all sorts of twists and turns. He had success at times in Miami. He also retired from football in 2004, only to return in 2005. Williams was suspended by the NFL in 2006 and wound up playing for Toronto in the Canadian Football League.

Williams returned to the Dolphins in 2007. He finished his career with Baltimore and ended up with 10,009 rushing yards and 74 total touchdowns (66 of them on the ground).

Not a bad career, especially when you consider all the interruptions.

Would it have somehow worked out better if things had been handled differently and Williams spent his entire career in New Orleans? It’s impossible to say for sure.

Williams’ track record suggests he might have encountered some of the same, or different, problems if he had been with the Saints the entire time. Things worked out all right for him. They also worked out for the Saints, aside from the initial price tag to get Williams. McAllister ended up having a very nice career.

Reggie Bush came in and did some nice things at certain times. Along the way, the Saints also added Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles, who have done some pretty nice things at running back.

Check out this Insider post in which ESPN’s Mel Kiper has his first mock draft for 2012.

Kiper has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers taking Alabama running back Trent Richardson with the No. 5 overall pick. Kiper also cautions that fans shouldn’t assume the Bucs won’t take a running back here because they already have LeGarrette Blount. If anything, the 2011 season showed that Blount probably never will be an every-down back. He simply isn’t a pass-catcher and never could pick up the pass protections well enough for the previous coaching staff to leave him on the field as a pass-blocker. I’m not sure the Bucs are going to be willing to lock up Blount with any sort of long-term deal. Blount still could have a role because he is a good power runner. But drafting Richardson makes plenty of sense because he’s an all-around running back. Also, drafting an offensive skill-position player usually generates a lot of excitement. I’m not saying the Bucs would simply draft a player to generate excitement, but this is a franchise that could use anything that might generate a little positive interest.

Kiper also has another Alabama player going to the only other NFC South team with a first-round pick this year. That’s cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. That move would make plenty of sense because the Panthers are looking to upgrade a defense that wasn’t very good in 2011. Put Kirkpatrick opposite Chris Gamble and Carolina instantly would have a better secondary than it did last season.

At the moment, Atlanta and New Orleans don’t have first-round picks in 2012. The Falcons gave up their pick last year in the trade to get Julio Jones. The Saints did the same thing to acquire Mark Ingram. It’s still possible, but not likely, the Saints and Falcons could trade for first-round picks.

Although the New Orleans Saints have been the division’s most successful team this season, their assistant coaches hadn’t been getting as much attention as members of other staffs.

Jacksonville hired Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as its head coach and Carolina offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski has received some attention.

New Orleans’ assistant coaches had not been tied to any of the vacancies for head coaches. But that has changed.

New Orleans offensive line coach Aaron Kromer reportedly will interview with the St. Louis Rams. If the Rams don’t get Jeff Fisher, don’t rule out the possibility of Kromer landing this job.

He has a solid résumé. As I mentioned Tuesday, New Orleans’ offensive line is considered one of the best in the league. Plus, Kromer’s job title with the Saints also says he’s in charge of supervising the running game. The fact that Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram and Chris Ivory have combined to give the Saints a strong running game this year only adds to Kromer’s reputation.

Before joining the Saints, Kromer worked with Tampa Bay’s offensive line.

The depth the New Orleans Saints accumulated at running back is looking more important than ever as the team gets ready to enter the playoffs.

For a lot of teams, news like the reports that rookie running back Mark Ingram will have toe surgery and miss the postseason would be devastating. For the Saints, it’s not that big a deal.

That’s a big difference from last season, when the Saints had a bunch of injuries and basically ran out of running backs in the postseason. That was a major reason New Orleans lost to Seattle in the postseason.

But this time around is totally different. Even without Ingram, the Saints have plenty of depth and versatility in the backfield.

They have three healthy running backs in Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory. Sproles is the speed back and also is a big threat as a receiver out of the backfield.

Ingram mainly had been used as a power back. But Thomas and Ivory are capable of sharing that role.

If the Saints have to play an outdoors game in bad weather in San Francisco or Green Bay, the running game could be more important than ever. With Sproles, Thomas and Ivory, the Saints won’t miss Ingram all that much.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints will be without several injured players for the “Monday Night Football’’ game with the Atlanta Falcons.

No big surprises since all three of these were pretty much expected. Running back Mark Ingram, linebacker Jonathan Casillas and defensive end Turk McBride have been declared inactive.

Also inactive for the Saints are cornerback Leigh Torrence, offensive tackle William Robinson, tight end Michael Higgins and receiver Adrian Arrington.

The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints just filed their final injury reports for their “Monday Night Football’’ game.

New Orleans running back Mark Ingram (toe) is doubtful. Don’t expect to see him Monday. The Saints also have Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Chris Ivory at running back. They’re better off resting Ingram and making sure he’s fully healthy for the playoffs. Linebackers Jonathan Casillas (knee) and Ramon Humber (knee) also are listed as doubtful. Receiver Lance Moore is questionable with a hamstring injury and was held out of Saturday’s practice.

The Falcons are listing cornerback Kelvin Hayden (toe), receiver Kerry Meier (groin) and linebacker Stephen Nicholas (toe) as doubtful. Cornerback Brent Grimes is questionable as he attempts to come back from knee surgery. But the Falcons seem optimistic Grimes will play. If Grimes plays and Hayden doesn’t, look for Dominique Franks to be used as the third cornerback. If Nicholas doesn’t play, veteran Mike Peterson likely will start in his place.

» NFC Stock Watch: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

FALLING

1. Raheem Morris, Buccaneers coach. He has become a weekly contestant in the “Falling’’ category of Stock Watch. That’s only because his stock has continued to fall every week for about the past month. How much lower can it go? Well, think about this: The Bucs play Jacksonville on Sunday. You put together back-to-back losses to the Panthers and Jaguars and that’s as bad as it gets. The defense, which Morris coordinates, is a mess. Weird things keep happening around One Buccaneer Place (see Morris, cursing and ripping on defensive tackle Brian Price in the latest episode). This is really starting to look like the final, bizarre days of Sam Wyche all over again. I’m just hoping Morris doesn’t do what Wyche did and go on a 45-minute diatribe/meltdown on Christmas Eve.

2. Julio Jones, Falcons receiver. When he has been healthy, the rookie receiver has had a pretty good season. But Jones played like a rookie Sunday. He dropped two passes and was called for a couple of costly penalties.

3. Mike Mularkey, Falcons offensive coordinator. Atlanta came out very aggressive, throwing a couple of quick deep passes against Houston. That didn’t work. Didn’t the Falcons learn anything early in the year when they were trying to force things downfield? Their offensive line isn’t really good enough to block for the deep ball, unless Michael Turner and the running game has softened up a defense first. If the Falcons somehow don’t make the playoffs or have an early exit, there’s probably going to be a scapegoat because expectations were so high at the start of the season. Mularkey’s looking like the leader in the scapegoat clubhouse.

RISING

1. Ron Rivera, Panthers coach. Carolina has won two in a row, which is more significant than it sounds. In my newspaper days, I covered two dramatic turnarounds. I saw Tony Dungy take over a bad Tampa Bay team in 1996 and put it in the playoffs the next season. I saw John Fox take over a terrible Carolina team in 2002 and put it in the Super Bowl the next season. Each of those teams showed some progress and built momentum at the end of the first season that clearly was a stepping stone to success the next year. What Rivera is doing looks an awful lot like what Dungy and Fox did at the end of their first seasons.

2. Robert Meachem, Saints receiver. About as quietly as you can put up 119 receiving yards and one touchdown, Meachem did that in Sunday night’s victory against Detroit. It’s easy to get lost in a receiving corps that also includes Lance Moore, Marques Colston and Devery Henderson, and don’t forget tight end Jimmy Graham and the running back trio of Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram. People always say Drew Brees makes everyone around him look better and that’s got a lot of truth to it. But Brees also benefits from working with an amazing collection of talent -- and Meachem is part of that collection.

3. Tony Gonzalez, Falcons tight end. On a day when not much went right for the Falcons, Gonzalez put up 100 yards on seven catches. This guy is amazing. There were times last season when I thought Gonzalez was near the end of the road. If you threw him a 7-yard pass, he’d give you 7 yards. This season, Gonzalez looks faster and is making some things happen after the catch.

NEW ORLEANS -- Running back Chris Ivory is inactive for Sunday night’s game against the Detroit Lions.

Ivory is healthy, but the Saints made him inactive last week as well. They’ve been using Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and rookie Mark Ingram in a backfield rotation.

Also inactive for the Saints are receiver Adrian Arrington, cornerback Johnny Patrick, linebacker Martez Wilson, lineman Will Robinson, defensive end Turk McBride and tight end Michael Higgins.

Linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who had been out with a knee injury, is active and is expected to start.

The inactives for Detroit are safety Louis Delmas, defensive back Chris Houston, quarterback Drew Stanton, defensive end Lawrence Jackson, guard Leonard Davis, running back Aaron Brown and cornerback Brandon McDonald are inactive.

NEW ORLEANS -- We’ve talked plenty about Drew Brees' performance in Monday night’s 49-24 victory against the New York Giants.

But we’d be terribly wrong not to mention the support the quarterback got from his running game. If there is such a thing as very quietly running for 205 yards, the Saints did that.

They didn’t have a 100-yard rusher. But that’s not really their style. They use a rotation in their backfield --and that’s a backfield that’s so deep that Chris Ivory, last season’s leading rusher, was on the inactive list Monday night, even though he was healthy.

Mark Ingram, Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas all were active and each of them played a significant role. Ingram had 80 yards on 13 carries and ran for a touchdown. Thomas had 63 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Sproles had 54 yards on eight carries. Brees added 8 yards and a touchdown on his only run of the night.

Again, the running game sometimes gets lost in Brees’ significant shadow. But the Saints have a much better running game than they did last season when they struggled with injuries and basically ran out of healthy running backs in a first-round playoff loss to Seattle.

That’s why the Saints went out and drafted Ingram and signed Sproles as a free agent. The results have been impressive.

The Saints are averaging 125.5 rushing yards per game this season. They’re averaging 26 rushes a game and 4.8 yards per carry. Through 11 games, they already have 12 rushing touchdowns.

In 2010, the Saints scored only nine rushing touchdowns. They averaged 94.9 rushing yards per game. They also averaged 23.8 runs per game and 4.0 yards per carry.

By the way, according to ESPN Stats & Information, 22 has been the magic number of carries per game for the Saints this season. In games in which they have run 22 or more times, they’re 7-0 and average 37.3 points. In games in which they have run 21 or fewer times, they’re 1-3 and average 25.3 points.

NEW ORLEANS -- Linebacker Jonathan Vilma and running back Chris Ivory will not play for the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.

Vilma has been sidelined by a knee injury. Ivory is healthy, but the Saints elected to activate only Darren Sproles, Mark Ingram and Pierre Thomas for this game.

The other inactives for the Saints are offensive tackle William Robinson, tight end Michael Higgins, receiver Adrian Arrington and defensive end Turk McBride.

ATLANTA – The New Orleans Saints will be without injured running back Chris Ivory (hamstring) and cornerback Patrick Robinson (stomach).

Running back Mark Ingram, who had missed two games with an injury, is active and likely will be used in a rotation with Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas. With Robinson out, Tracy Porter and Jabari Greer will start at cornerback and the Saints likely will use Leigh Torrence as the nickelback.

Ivory and Robinson join linebacker Jonathan Vilma (knee), who already had been declared out on Sunday’s inactive list. Also inactive for the Saints are fullback Korey Hall, tackle Ray Willis, receiver Adrian Arrington and defensive end Turk McBride.