When Erik McCoy came off the field and went into the blue injury tent on Sunday, every New Orleans Saints fan feared the worst. The Monday after the game, those fears have come true.
First reported by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football, the Saints will lose the center for the rest of the 2025 season. As it turns out, the injury that McCoy suffered was a torn bicep. If all of his recovery goes well, he should be back in time for the 2026 season.
This is a huge blow for the team, to say the least. McCoy, 28, is one of the best in the National Football League at his position and is also in the prime of his career. Luke Fortner, who the team traded for during the preseason, played in his place. Currently, he’s the likely name we’ll see in that spot going forward.
For Erik McCoy, this is not his first rodeo
Unfortunately for Erik McCoy, this is not the first time he’s suffered a significant injury. Back in 2021, he injured his calf in the season opener and was out for the next four weeks. The next season in 2022, calf injuries once again would cause him to miss four games. However, most recently in 2024, he suffered two separate injuries, one to his groin and the other to his elbow, which caused him to miss a combined seven games.
The team sorely missed him last season, only winning two games in his absence. The impact could be seen with a naked eye as well, because the pressure rate would jump from 22.1% (which would have been third overall in the NFL at the time) to 34% when he would leave the field.
Spencer Rattler should be sweating. Scratch that, everyone on the team should be sweating because without Erik McCoy, the Saints offense is only at half power. That second win of the season just became even harder.
