The New Orleans Saints don't plan on placing Drew Brees on the injured reserve, coach Sean Payton announced on Wednesday.
#Saints coach Sean Payton tells reporters today that he does not plan to place QB Drew Brees on Injured Reserve, which sounds like good news. It indicates NO believes Brees can be back within 8 weeks. 6 weeks was the initial estimate.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 18, 2019
Brees is having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb sometime this week and it will be performed by Dr. Steven Shin in Los Angeles. Brees suffered the injury on the team's second drive on Sunday when his hand hit Aaron Donald's hand.
Ed Werder reported earlier this week the expected recovery is six to eight weeks but they won't know an exact timeframe until after the surgery.
“I’m confident in the surgery that will take place and will dedicate myself to the rehab process to get back as quickly as I can,” Brees wrote in a text to Werder via SI.com.
This is a huge blow to the Saints who came into the season believing they had a team that could win a Super Bowl. Those dreams aren't completely gone with Brees expected to return to the team later in the season, but they need to at least stay afloat while he is gone.
After Brees went out on Sunday it was Teddy Bridgewater who replaced him and he went 17-30 for 165 yards. He didn't throw any interceptions but he also had zero touchdowns.
The Saints face the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys in their next two games and they should have a better feel of what the expectations should be with Bridgewater under center. If he can go 4-2 or even 3-3 that could be enough to get Brees back in around six weeks and still make the playoffs.
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