New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees updated this evening the timeline for his return from his thumb injury.
Brees, who had surgery on Sept. 18 to fix the torn ligament in his right thumb, was given a six-week timeline for his return.
However, Brees thinks he could return faster than the six-week timeline.
“I think I can beat that,” Brees said on the radio, per Jeff Duncan of The Athletic.
Brees added that he was given three options for his surgery, but chose the one that allows him to begin rehab soon.
Brees has been out in Los Angeles, rehabbing from his surgery, but he’s expected to be on the sideline for Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys.
In the meantime, Brees said he plans to be on the sideline for Sunday night's game against the Dallas Cowboys in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after he reluctantly had to watch the Saints beat the Seattle Seahawks from afar this past Sunday.
“I’m still a leader on this team and a team captain, and I plan to do whatever I can to help,” he said.
Saints coach Sean Payton told the Dallas media that he knows Brees "will want an earpiece" so he can hear the playcalls and add his input.
"That's just a given," Payton said. "You know, he's a leader and someone in that position with a lot of experience. I definitely think he can be an asset."
Brees said he tore the ulnar collateral ligament "off the bone" when he hit his right throwing thumb against the hand of Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald in Week 2. And he explained that there were three ways to treat it -- two of which would have taken too long for his taste.
So he opted to have the ligament surgically repaired by Dr. Steven Shin in Los Angeles and to have an internal brace put in, "which is basically just a little piece of tape that they put on top of the ligament repair."
