No word on injury to Saints offensive tackle Charles Brown; possible roster signing coming
August 12, 2011; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Charles Brown (71) against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of a preseason game at the Louisiana Superdome. The New Orleans Saints defeated the San Francisco 49ers Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE
It didn’t look good for the New Orleans Saints offensive line on the right side when offensive tackle Charles Brown left the game with a knee injury yesterday. As it stands right now, it still may not be promising.
Brown was actually filling in for starter Zach Strief who is out with a groin injury and doesn’t appear to be on the bounce back to return this week. Rumors circulated a few weeks ago that Strief could actually have a sports hernia injury which usually requires surgery but hasn’t been confirmed.
Undrafted rookie Bryce Harris, who the Saints signed off the Atlanta Falcons practice squad, took Brown’s spot after he went down. Harris struggled but seemed to settle down as the game progressed. While not perfect, it was a nice effort by the basically third-string rookie.
In a press conference today interim head coach Joe Vitt said that Brown was being evaluated further. A report surfaced after the game that Brown could have at least a sprained MCL.
If that is true then Brown could be sidelined alongside Strief as well and if the injury is more significant than that, require surgery. CBS Sports Saints Rapid Reports said that the team “will possibly make a roster move depending on the results.”
That should say a lot reading between the lines. Obviously the team feels that Browns injury is significant enough and Strief’s lengthy recovery time is warranting even the notion of making a roster move.
The roster move likely would be placing Brown on injured reserve or even Strief if he can’t return in a timely manner. The down side is that there aren’t many quality free agent offensive tackles left out there that the Saints could sign if they needed to.
Two veterans that come to mind is former Green Bay Packers tackle Chad Clifton and former New York Giants tackle Kareem McKenzie. Both players have been a part of Super Bowl teams with McKenzie having two championships to his name.
The only thing would be how healthy they are to be signed. For example, Clifton was released by the Packers in April due to him failing his physical.
Yet quarterback Aaron Rodgers did say earlier this month that he wished the Packers would re-sign Clifton due to the team suffering their own set of injuries along their offensive line.