The New Orleans Saints have placed veteran DT Kendrick Clancy on injured reserve with a knee injury and signed DT DeMario Pressley from the practice squad to the active roster, the team announced Saturday.

Clancy, a 10th-year player in his third season with the Saints, played in two games in 2009 and was inactive for five others with his knee ailment. The former Ole Miss standout made two tackles in the season opener and missed the subsequent five contests before returning to action last week against Atlanta, where he made four tackles but re-aggravated the knee. He finishes the season with six tackles and has now made 85 stops in 30 games (16 starts) as a Saint with 2½ sacks and a fumble recovery.

Pressley, a second-year lineman out of North Carolina State University, was selected by the Saints in the fifth round (144th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-3, 301-pounder spent his rookie season on injured reserve rehabbing a foot injury suffered early in training camp. He played in all four of the Saints’ preseason games this summer, making nine tackles before being waived at the conclusion of training camp. He was signed to the team’s practice squad days later, where he has been for the first eight weeks of the season.

New Orleans is light on depth at defensive tackle since starter Sedrick Ellis (knee) is expected to miss at least a few more weeks. They're now down to Pressley, starter Remi Ayodele, who moved into that role a few weeks ago, and Anthony Hargrove, who is filling in for Ellis.

To get caught up on all the latest breaking news around the NFL along with insider analysis, sign up for Adam Caplan's Twitter Updates.