Day 1 of the training camp wasn’t too kind to the New Orleans Saints. Right off the bat, defensive tackle Bryan Bresee suffered a potentially season-ending ACL tear on Wednesday, per Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo.
The Saints are yet to make an official announcement, probably waiting to find out the severity of the injury.
Head coach Keelen Moore confirmed that the non-contact knee injury “doesn’t look good.”
“No one kind of ran into each other, no one fell on anyone. It was just kind of a goofy deal where obviously something unfortunately happened,” Moore said per the Associated Press.
“It’s a tough one.”
Bryan Bresee Could Be Out for 2026
GettyNew Orleans Saints DL Bryan Bresee suffered reported ACL tear on Day 1 of training camp.
According to the New Orleans head coach, Bresee didn’t realise until much later what damage the “goofy deal” had done.
“It took a little bit, I think for him to realize what it felt like,” Moore said. “It felt like a little bit of something, and then once they checked it out — obviously, we’ll continue to finalize all that — but it doesn’t look great.”
It took Bresee three years to set himself up as the undisputed starter, a role he was just about to step into this season, before the injury hit him like a truck.
Even if it doesn’t turn out as severe as season-ending, which Moore needs it not to, it would still set him back at least a few weeks, if not months, this season, potentially affecting his performance whenever he comes back.
That said, it is not Bresee’s first ACL tear either. The last time he tore his ACL was during his sophomore year at Clemson on September 25, 2021, in a Week 4 matchup against NC State.
After surgery in October 2021, it took him almost a year to get completely cleared up by August 2022.
Moore could be looking at a season without the linchpin of their defense. The 2023 first-round pick has started 26 games in his career, including 15 last season, and has 14.5 career sacks. Bresee was just finding his footing as the core part of the Saints’ interior defensive line.
With veteran Davon Godchaux handling double teams at nose tackle, the Saints are in a seriously vulnerable spot.
Saints Need a Pivot
GettyNew Orleans Saints DL Bryan Bresee suffered reported ACL tear on Day 1 of training camp.
It leaves Moore with no other option but to switch to other players, which he sounds pretty confident about.
“We obviously have to have other guys presented opportunities, and certainly those guys will have to take advantage of that,” Moore said.
“Bryan will do everything he can to recover and come back as strong as he possibly can.”
That he will, but until then, Staley isn’t going to sit and do nothing while the front four bleeds. His next best plan of action would be elevating the depth chart and pivoting to the second-string defensive tackles.
New Orleans has six defensive tackles in the mix: three veterans in Nathan Shepherd, Davon Godchaux, and John Ridgeway III, two young developing talents Khristian Boyd and Vernon Broughton, and second-round pick rookie Christen Miller.
That, or Staley could go out shopping late summer for another tackle to fill in the vacant spot.
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