Saints QB Brees resumes throwing

Two and a half weeks into an expected six-week absence, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is throwing a football again with his surgically repaired right thumb. Brees posted three videos on Instagram on Saturday evening, with a caption reading "Shhhhhhhhh....." along with a thumbs-up emoji. In the videos, which appear to have been filmed at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie, La., Brees is throwing short passes and also catches a pass back to him. His right thumb is taped, and he's seen flexing it after each throw.

Brees, 40, has missed two starts since hurting his thumb Sept. 15 in Los Angeles against the Rams. He had surgery on the 18th and reportedly was expected to miss six weeks. With Teddy Bridgewater starting, the Saints won 33-27 at Seattle in Week 3 and 12-10 at home against Dallas last Sunday, improving to 3-1. They host Tampa Bay this Sunday before back-to-back trips to Jacksonville and Chicago. New Orleans' last game before its Week 9 bye is at home to Arizona on Oct. 27.

The Saints lead the NFC South by one game over Tampa Bay and Carolina. They have four consecutive divisional games following their bye week. Prior to this year, Brees had missed just one game due to injury since joining the Saints in 2006.

The league's all-time leading passer needs 155 yards to become the first in NFL history to pass for 75,000 yards. He is 18 passing touchdowns shy of leapfrogging Peyton Manning (539) for most all-time, although New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady -- who was tied with Brees at 522 when the latter got hurt -- now has 524. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)