By Mike Triplett | ESPN Staff Writer
METAIRIE, La. -- Sean Payton said the 46-man roster on game days has "gotta change" for health and safety reasons.
The New Orleans Saints coach brought up the topic unsolicited Thursday while discussing how the team was down to its last healthy offensive lineman on Monday night at Carolina. He said teams need more players available on game days. ...
"The 46-man roster on game day is soon to be, I think, will be soon dated. I think that's gotta change," Payton said. "If we're interested in health and safety -- and it sounds like we are; at least that's something we talk about a lot -- that number should be higher. And that'll affect the overall roster size. And that might cost a little bit more money, but that's the price."
Payton said this idea also comes up whenever people want teams to "rest their starters" when they have big leads late in games.
"Have you ever looked at the sideline during a game?" Payton said. "We played Cincinnati this year and we rested starters. You're talking about three different changes, maybe. It's just different than, obviously, college, where you have a large number of players on the sideline." ...
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