New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is expected to have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and is expected to miss six weeks.
Brees left Sunday’s game in the first quarter after suffering a gruesome hand injury. Brees’ throwing hand appeared to hit Los Angeles Rams’ defensive tackle Aaron Donald following through on a pass. Brees was seen on the sideline throughout the game with his right thumb taped and remained on the sideline for the rest of the game.
According to Chris Mortensen, Brees knew Sunday he was going to need thumb surgery, it was just a matter of when and who was going to perform the surgery.
New Orleans will now go forward with back-up quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The Saints are heavily invested in the former Minnesota Vikings quarterback, trading a third-round pick to acquire him. The Saints also re-signed Bridgewater to a one-year, $7.25M deal, making him the NFL’s highest paid back-up quarterback.
Bridgewater took over for the injured Brees and completed 17 of 30 passes for 165 yards, but did not throw for a single touchdown. Not an awful performance against the reigning NFC champions, but certainly a start he will look to build off going forward.
Dating back to high school, Brees has missed only one game, a Week 3 game in 2015 against the Carolina Panthers due to a shoulder injury.
The Saints also have dual-threat quarterback Taysom Hill if they so desire to use him.
If we are being honest, the Saints have a slim chance of success without Brees under center. Now, that’s not to say Bridgewater isn’t a good quarterback, it’s just you can’t replace a generational talent. Brees has been a fixture in the Saints offense. He’s developed a good chemistry with wide receiver Michael Thomas, running back Alvin Kamara, and head coach Sean Payton that Bridgewater may not have right away (or ever have).
New Orleans does play in the mediocre NFC South, so there is still a good chance Bridgewater could keep the Saints afloat in playoff contention until Brees returns from injury. It’ll be interesting to see.
Photo Credit: AFP Photo/Sean M. Haffey
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