New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo had to be carted off the field early in the second quarter during the Saints‘ “Thursday Night Football” clash with the Denver Broncos.
Adebo collided with Broncos running back Javonte Williams while attempting to make a tackle. After the play, the fourth-year corner immediately grabbed at his right leg. New Orleans’ medical personnel applied an air cast on the field before taking Adebo back to the locker room on a cart.
There was a minutes-long delay as the medical staff tended to Adebo’s injury. Later in the game, Amazon Prime Video’s Kaylee Hartung reported that the cornerback was taken to a local hospital by an ambulance.
After the game, Saints head coach Dennis Allen told reporters that Adebo had broken his femur, the thigh bone that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) calls the “longest, heaviest, and strongest human bone.”
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Allen said he expects Adebo to undergo surgery to address the injury later on Thursday night.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a broken femur can take four to six months to heal completely. Patients may “be able to resume many activities before this time,” but Adebo’s season is over.
A 2015 study published in the Journal of Athletic Training concluded that a “[r]eturn to the previous level of performance is possible” after an athlete suffers a femoral fracture. It took an average of nine and a half months for the athletes in the study to return to play after suffering the injury.
The Saints lost both of their starting cornerbacks to injuries on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 7. After Adebo suffered his leg injury near the start of the second quarter, Marshon Lattimore also exited the game. Lattimore injured his hamstring late in the third quarter, and New Orleans quickly ruled him out of the game as well.
Rookie cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry is listed as the primary backup for Lattimore on the Saints’ depth chart, and third-year corner Alontae Taylor is listed as Adebo’s backup.
Undrafted free agent rookie Rico Payton is the only other healthy cornerback on the Saints’ roster. Payton had 10 defensive snaps and 86 special teams snaps before New Orleans’ Week 7 clash with the Broncos. He had one tackle on Thursday night.
Adebo had six total tackles (three solo) against the Broncos on Thursday night before his injury.
On the season, the fourth-year cornerback had three interceptions, 46 total tackles and was leading the league with 10 passes defended through six games.
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