Saints Defensive Tackle Bryan Bresee Out for 2026 Season With Torn ACL

New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore confirmed Sunday that defensive tackle Bryan Bresee tore his right ACL and will require season-ending surgery, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and Katherine Terrell.

The injury happened on a noncontact play during the Saints' first training camp practice last week, while Bresee was working with the first-team defense in 11-on-11 drills, according to TSN.

"It's tough," Moore told reporters. "Bryan played some really good football last year and had a great offseason."

Saints nose tackle Davon Godchaux described the moment. "First day. It was like a freak accident," Godchaux said, according to TSN. "Hardly wasn't even any contact. Just really was a pass rush move and he felt his knee buckle."

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported last week that Bresee was feared to have torn his ACL, and further testing confirmed the diagnosis, TSN reported.

A Second ACL Tear

Bresee tore his left ACL as a sophomore at Clemson in 2021, according to the New York Post. This time it's the right knee.

Bresee, 24, was the 29th overall pick in the 2023 draft. He has started 26 of his 49 career NFL games, including all 15 he appeared in during the 2025 season, according to Heavy Sports.

His career numbers: 14.5 sacks, 31 quarterback hits, 37 tackles and a forced fumble in his best season, 2024, when he posted 7.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hits, according to theScore. Last season his sack total dropped to 2.5, but that came with a role change under new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who moved Bresee into a 3-4 defensive end alignment rather than a traditional nose tackle spot, Heavy Sports reported.

Contract Situation Unaffected

The Saints already exercised the 2027 fifth-year option on Bresee's rookie contract this offseason, a guaranteed figure worth roughly $13.9 million, according to TSN and Heavy Sports. His 2026 salary-cap charge is about $3.9 million. The injury doesn't create financial uncertainty for Bresee. He remains under contract through 2027 and will have the full season to rehab without facing free agency.

Who Steps Up

New Orleans now has to fill the interior line spot before preseason games give the staff any real look at the rotation against outside competition. The options on the roster include veterans Nathan Shepherd and Davon Godchaux, plus younger players Vernon Broughton, Khristian Boyd and John Ridgeway III.

Broughton, a 2025 third-round pick out of Texas, played just one game last year before a hip injury ended his season early. He's been getting increased first-team reps in camp since Bresee went down, according to TSN.

Chase Young, the Saints' defensive end, said the group needs collective improvement, not a single replacement. "We need some guys to step up," Young said, according to TSN. "Bresee just went down. We're going to need Vernon to step up. We need [John Ridgeway III] to step up. We need the whole interior to step up. And I have faith that they will."

Godchaux echoed that no one player replaces Bresee's snaps. "I mean, I think we all got to step up," Godchaux said. "D-line is a position where you do have starters, but everybody's going to play every game. Who's the hot hand? Some guys have their games... But everybody's got to step up."

Heavy Sports noted the loss could also shift more pressure-generation responsibility onto the Saints' edge rushers, Cameron Jordan, Carl Granderson and Young, since Bresee had been used to attack from multiple interior alignments in Staley's scheme.

What's Next

The Saints have not announced a timetable for Bresee's surgery or a target return date, though ACL recoveries typically run 9 to 12 months, putting a realistic return somewhere in the 2027 offseason or early next season. New Orleans opens training camp roster battles at a defensive tackle spot that now lacks its most proven player, with the preseason slate serving as the first real test of who fills the void.