The bad news is that the Saints apparently won’t have running back Mark Ingram for the first four games of the 2018 season. The good news is that it’s far from the hardest stretch of the team’s schedule.

The Saints open with home games against the Bucs and Browns before hitting the road for games against the Falcons and Giants. The game at Atlanta will be a stiff test regardless of whether Ingram plays. The other three games are objectively winnable.

However it plays out, the Saints will need help at the position if Ingram isn’t available for the first four weeks. Alvin Kamara never had more than 12 carries in any game last year; using him as a workhorse for the first 25 percent of the season could make it harder to keep Kamara fresh later in the year.