Drew Brees Injury Update: Saints QB Will Be Out For 6 Weeks

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees will be out for at least six weeks after suffering a thumb injury during Sunday’s game against the Rams, Yahoo Sports reports.

With 6:44 left in the first quarter during Sunday’s game in L.A., as reported at the time by The Inquisitr, the Pro-Bowl QB suffered the unfortunate injury. Specifically, as he was attempting to throw a pass to tight end Jared Cook, his throwing hand came into contact with the hand of a defender, Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

Brees left the game immediately and was replaced by his backup, Teddy Bridgewater. Cameras captured Brees on the sidelines, valiantly trying, and failing, to even so much as hold a ball.

Almost immediately, NFL observers, and Brees himself, started speculating that the injury he’d suffered might wind up being severe. In fact, according to a tweet from ESPN football analyst Chris Mortensen, Brees knew right away that he was pretty badly injured.

“Drew Brees knew last night he needed surgery on his thumb ligament damage, per sources. He was still deciding who would do the surgery and when. Obviously imminent,” he wrote.

According to NFL.com, he’ll have to have surgery for a torn ligament on his right thumb. Depending on whom you ask, his recovery could take as little as six weeks, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, or as much as eight weeks, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

The news is devastating to the Saints offense, whose hopes for a Super Bowl run rested on the 40-year-old signal caller’s shoulders.

Throughout his 14-year career with the Saints, Brees has only missed one game due to injury, having sat out a contest in 2015 for a rotator cuff injury.

For now, it seems as if Brees’ backup, Teddy Bridgewater, will take over the role as Saints starting QB. During Sunday’s game, his performance was largely pedestrian. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 165 yards and was sacked twice, and failed to get into the end zone. Instead, the Saints were only able to get into field goal range three times, and they wound up losing the game 27-9. Bridgewater has not been the starting quarterback for two or more consecutive games since 2015.

Another option for Saints coach Sean Payton is Taysom Hill. Officially, Hill is on the roster as a third-string quarterback, but he can also work as a kick returner and a utility player. Payton has compared Hill to Steve Young.

With Brees gone, the NFC South division is now wide open, says NFL.com writer Kevin Patra.