“No one’s ever played with that injury, let alone an entire season,” a source with knowledge of the situation told LouisianaSports.net.
But for Moreau, who was also met with a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis on an offseason visit with the team, playing through the issue is not the story. The Saints’ training staff is.
“I feel great” Moreau said. “And credit to our medical team. Those guys, day-in, day-out, I promise you that they work harder than just about anyone in this building.”
That very point is further evidenced by the fact that Moreau was outfitted with a custom, 3-D printed brace to help keep his peroneal retinaculum tendon from “flipping over my ankle bone,” as the tight end described it.
Bear in mind, this is the same medical staff that caught his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis as well.
“I wouldn’t have had any knowledge or fathomed any way that I could have been playing,” Moreau said. “It’s not something you normally play through, but we got experimental, and we got through it.”
The Saints medical staff gets a lot of grief, often times from disgruntled fans or even former players. Moments like this really highlight the duality of what is perceived inside versus outside of the building.
Earlier this offseason, the Saints signed defensive end Chase Young to a one-year deal knowing that he would need to undergo an offseason neck procedure. The staff felt that they were comfortable with where things would go, and he ended up making back to the practice field early on in training camp. He has been a dominant force from the jump.
The team also recently welcomed back tight end Juwan Johnson after an offseason surgery for his foot. He did so on a timeline that beat expectations, he told media earlier this week.
When asked what allowed him to have the fervor to play through such a rarely navigated injury, Moreau reinforced his trust in the medical team around him.
“The faith that some guys put in me to be able to fight through injury and have enough of a pain tolerance,” he said. “But also the trust that I had in our trainers that these guys would come up with a number of solutions. And we’re going to exhaust every option until we found one that fit.”
Doing so allowed Moreau to avoid in-season surgery, though he did say that he had a procedure done in late-January which has him ready to go full-speed in 2024.
Saints tight ends coach Clancy Barone was not surprised by Moreau’s resilience.
“For a guy that beats cancer, you’re not going to let a simple ankle injury hold you back,” Barone said. “He’s fought through tougher things than that.”
Amidst all the praise around Moreau playing through this situation last season, his goal is clear. Lift up those who uplifted him.
“Again, all the credit to those guys,” he said. “They work the earliest and the latest hours of genuinely almost anyone in the building and they receive no credit. So, this is me trying to do my small part in giving them a little bit.”
