Drew Brees is back with the New Orleans Saints after missing five weeks of action due to a thumb injury and the team is looking to make a Super Bowl run as they currently have a record of 7-2. However, if the Saints want to reach the Super Bowl, will they have to do it without Brees under center? Ben Maller, a host on Fox Sports Radio, believes Brees is not the same player he was the last few seasons and said the team needs to bench him, suggesting how Teddy Bridgewater should take his place. Bridgewater led the Saints to five straight wins this year when Brees was out.
“You have to start to wonder about Drew Brees. When you’re a 40-year-old quarterback questions arise all the time about whether or not you can still get it done. Right now, that elevator is going DOWN. People forget about Brees struggling down the stretch last year too, including against the Rams in the NFC Championship,” Maller said
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“How bad would Brees have to perform for the Saints to go back to Teddy Bridgewater? The only way I can see that happening is if Brees is crippled. Nobody has the balls in New Orleans to replace him on poor performance alone, even if Bridgewater is the best option. Sean Payton doesn’t have the cajones to do it!”
So far this season, Brees has played in four games and has thrown five touchdowns and three interceptions while posting a passer rating of 99.8. However, Brees has been the starting QB for the Saints only two losses of the year and the team is coming off a brutal 26-9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons this past Sunday and Brees was sacked six times. After the game, Brees talked about what he and his teammates do in order to get back on track.
“It’s been kind of a slow start and then we kind of find ourselves and then maybe we break it open in the second half,” Brees said per ESPN. “But I’d say that that’s definitely an area where we can improve, and we’ll need to improve if we want to get to where we want to go.”
It’s very unlikely that Brees will be benched. However, he is a free agent after the 2019 season, so if he does struggle towards the end of the season, it’s not out of the question to think the Saints could move on from him.
