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Saints OL Ethan Greenidge appears to have had surgery yesterday and has 4-6 months of recovery ahead of him, per Instagram. (The original post he shared his from his wife.) pic.twitter.com/A5U0zsn0V9
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) August 28, 2021
Let’s start with the good news: New Orleans Saints backup offensive lineman Ethan Greenidge and his wife Kalee announced this weekend that he underwent a successful reparative surgery on Saturday and is looking at a four- to six-month recovery process. Greenidge exited New Orleans’ second preseason game with an unspecified arm injury and did not return to action. A few days later he was designated to injured reserve.
Greenidge joins several teammates on the injured reserve list: veteran cornerback Brian Poole, defensive tackle Jalen Dalton, and rookies Dylan Soehner (a tight end from Iowa State) and Bryce Thompson (a corner-turned-safety out of Tennessee). So far none of those players have signed injury settlements that give them a chance to play for another team this season, suggesting the Saints want to rehab them and bring them back for another shot in 2022. But stay tuned for updates on this front.
And there’s the bad news — Greenidge’s 2021 season is over, which is a big disappointment for him. Because he’s going on injured reserve before the season starts, he won’t be eligible to return even after receiving a clean bill of health. He had been playing very well with the Saints at left tackle and began taking snaps at right guard to demonstrate the flexibility he needs to make the roster. Losing him hurts both the overall depth and his career arc thus far.
Hopefully he continues to stick with New Orleans. The Saints initially signed him as an undrafted rookie out of Villanova in 2019 (not long after he had successful labrum surgery), and he’s made the opening-day roster in each of his first two years as a pro — totaling just 49 snaps in 15 games, all in 2020. He was on the right track to repeating that in 2021, but now he’ll be recovering from surgery with restricted free agency ahead in 2022.
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