METAIRIE, La. ― Pierre Thomas left the practice field Tuesday on the first play of team after injuring his wrist.
Thomas, the Saints’ leading running back a season ago, stayed on the ground for more than 30 seconds before the training staff got to him on the field and helped him off.
Trainers looked at his wrist, then took him into the locker room for the rest of practice.
“I think it’s fine,” Head Coach Sean Payton said, “but we’ll get an X-ray on it.”
He added, “I think it’s more of a bone bruise based on what I saw.”
Thomas has previously injured his left wrist. In 2008, an injury to the wrist finished his season and he had surgery to repair it. In the following minicamp, he sprained it when defensive lineman Sedrick Ellis tried to strip the ball out of his hands.
Thomas lined up in the backfield as the Saints began working on their red zone offense and defense. He took the handoff from quarterback Drew Brees and darted into the left side of the line.
He was met by strong safety Roman Harper, along with a bevy of other defenders.
But when everyone else got up off the ground, Thomas remained down.
His injury is the first breath-holding moment of camp. The Saints left the first seven practices relatively unscathed.
Both linebacker Scott Shanle and tight end Jeremy Shockey have missed practices as they rest sore knees, but neither have been deemed serious. Payton expects Shockey back as early as Wednesday and Shanle could return at the same time.
Thomas was unavailable for comment.
