Kenny Phillips felt numb.
Phillips, the veteran safety who came back from two years away from football, had initially made the Saints’ 53-man roster, only to get cut the next day after New Orleans made two waiver claims.
The next morning, Phillips headed out to a park near his house in Miami to run. The same park where he’d spent the past two years, a former first-round pick trying desperately to get one more chance after arthritis in his left knee forced a career-altering microfracture surgery that knocked Phillips out of football. Handed a chance by the Saints this offseason, Phillips was sure he’d done enough in training camp to make the team.