The New Orleans Saints will be without Delvin Breaux for the next several weeks.
The cornerback will undergo surgery for a fractured fibula and is expected to miss the next six weeks, coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport adds the fracture was discovered when an independent doctor read Breaux's X-ray. The timeline likely means Breaux will miss the start of the season, which opens for the Saints on Monday, Sept. 11 in Minnesota. ESPN's Mike Triplett first reported the news.
The news of Breaux's fracture comes after it was originally misdiagnosed as a contusion. The Saints fired two team orthopedists because of the bad diagnosis, per Rapoport.
The team had been frustrated with Breaux struggling to recover from what it believed to be a contusion. Now that it's been properly diagnosed as a fracture, his elongated absence makes more sense.
For a Saints defense that is perennially lousy, missing Breaux for the start of the season cuts depth from a secondary that needs all the help it can get in 2017. Had the diagnosis been correct when Breaux went down, he'd likely have been back at the start of the season.
