Saints Chase Daniel fractures thumb, Greg Romeus tears ACL at minicamp

The Saints have had a rough offseason, and it didn't get any easier Wednesday when they lost Greg Romeus for six-to-eight months with a torn ACL and de facto starting quarterback Chase Daniel for a few weeks due to a fractured thumb.

By Will Brinson

Jun 13, 2012 at 2:30 pm ET • 1 min read

Daniel will miss a few weeks with a fractured thumb. (US Presswire)

You'd think that, at some point, things would get easier for the Saints. That point wasn't Wednesday, when New Orleans had to deal with one serious injury and one mildly serious injury that's a reminder of a larger problem.

The first injury was a torn ACL for Greg Romeus, which means the defensive end will miss the next six-to-eight months according to interim coach Joe Vitt. This is the second time Romeus has dealt with a torn ACL.

"He was just running down the field and his non-surgical knee gave on him and he has an ACL and an MCL and he's going to miss the next 6-8 months," Vitt said per Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "This kid has really worked hard. The whole team feels bad for him, the coaching staff feels bad for him. It's part of the game. This kid has put in the time, he has put in the effort and he has to go through the whole process all over again."

Romeus previously tore his other ACL so it's impossible not to feel just awful for the youngster, given that he spent his rookie season recovering from a similar injury.

Much less devastating is the injury to Chase Daniel, who suffered a hairline fracture on his throwing hand and won't be able to throw a ball for two-and-a-half weeks.

That's clearly not as bad as Romeus injury. But Daniel's injury is a reminder of what's happening with the Saints right now: he was QB1 during minicamp because Drew Brees is busy building Jimmy John's stores waiting on a new contract.

The Saints recently signed Luke McCown, and he and Sean Canfield will be the guys taking first-team reps for the Saints over the next few weeks.

So while the Saints are trying to climb back out of their offseason hole, things somehow got worse Wednesday.

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