Drew Brees won’t play for the Saints this weekend as he deals with a shoulder injury, but New Orleans’ woes could extend beyond Week 3, writes Jarrett Bell of USA Today. The Saints made several moves to upgrade their offensive line during the offensive line, but Bell questions whether sacrificing a game-changing talent like Jimmy Graham was worth it, noting that finding a weapon like Graham is conceivably more difficult than landing solid offensive linemen. Additionally, Brees’ 2016 cap hit of $27.4MM won’t leave New Orleans much room to bring in reinforcements. Trading Brees could help kickstart a rebuild, but Bell rightly wonders whether Saints fans would accept the club dealing an icon such as Brees.
Here’s more from the NFC:
- 49ers running back Reggie Bush will miss his second consecutive game, as he’s been declared out for Sunday’s contest with a calf injury. As Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com notes (via Twitter), Bush will miss out on $18,750 in per-game roster bonuses for each contest that he misses. The 30-year-old Bush signed a one-year, $2.5MM with San Francisco during the offseason.
- Third-round pick Jordan Hicks will start his first game for the Eagles on Sunday, according to to Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer. With both Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks dealing with leg injuries, Hicks, a Texas product, will step in next to veteran DeMeco Ryans, who has already expressed faith in Hicks. “He’s a guy who’s kind of above his years,” said Ryans. “To me, it’s not like he’s a rookie. When he stepped in, it’s like we’ve been doing this all summer and he’s a pretty smart guy, and it’s not like he has a big learning curve to hurdle.”
- The Lions rank 25th in the NFL in offensive yards, and Kyle Meinke of MLive.com believes offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi is mostly to blame. (For what it’s worth, Detroit places a more respectable 16th in offensive DVOA.) The Lions scribe covers a plethora of other topics in his mailbag segment, including whether or not Matthew Stafford is still the future at quarterback.