New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton hinted at the possibility he would limit quarterback Drew Brees during practices throughout the 2020 season.
Payton was asked whether Brees would be on a “pitch count” this year, to which he responded the Saints will not demand Brees go full bore.
Payton also said Brees had already begun to lessen his workload in practices last year, which seemed to have a positive impact on his play.
But while Brees might take it easy during the week, Payton said to the New Orleans Times-Picayune the Saints will not hold back on game days (via Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk):
“I don’t think a pitch count relative to in the regular season games … Certainly during the week of practice. For the last couple of years, Wednesday’s been a down day. He’s rested his arm. I know last year there was five weeks he didn’t play and then he came back playing extremely well.
“I understand the question, a lot of people have mentioned that. I just think in our game with 16 games, a little bit different than maybe basketball or baseball or even hockey. The value of each game is such, I think most importantly for us, it’s training camp and even during the work week and modifying maybe even Thursday. So the pitch count for us would be up until the game itself, but it wouldn’t include a regular season game.”
This only seems sensible from the Saints.
Aside from a torn ligament in his thumb suffered last season, Brees has not had many injury issues during his time in New Orleans. Simultaneously, Brees is in his age-41 season.
The Saints want to do everything in their power to preserve Brees for game days, especially knowing the 2020 season might be the last hurrah for the future Hall of Famer.
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