New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees isn’t one to let adversity slow him down. Brees underwent a procedure to repair a ruptured ligament in the thumb of his throwing hand a little over two weeks ago, and he’s already back on the Saints practice field spinning a football.
During an appearance on WWL Radio with host Bobby Hebert, Brees credited the rapidly regained strength in his injured hand to a cutting-edge procedure where doctors inserted a flexible brace to protect and strengthen his injured thumb. It’s a common method among basketball players but is just now making inroads to baseball, where players have returned to full speed in four to eight weeks. Brees is the first football player to try it out, and he’s already ahead of schedule — he struck a Saints athletic trainer “dead in the chest” with a Nerf football to demonstrate how quickly he’s recovering.
Brees shared evidence of his progress in a video posted from his official Instagram account, where he can be seen spinning those same Nerf footballs at full velocity in the Saints practice facility at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. The softer texture should be less taxing on his surgically repaired hand, but signs suggest it won’t be long before Brees is back in the huddle for New Orleans.
