Marques Colston Sidelined at Least a Month

Fantasy owners of Jeremy Shockey should be pleased; those who drafted Marques Colston, or are big Saints fans (or both, yeah, today's an awesome day for me) will mourn -- Colston will miss four to six weeks with a torn ligament in his left thumb. He had surgery yesterday to reattach the ligament.

This injury, um, came out of nowhere. Colston was sidelined for a portion of the season opener against Tampa, but there was no mention of him when Sean Payton discussed injuries in the post-game press conference, and so the "no news is good news" theorum was put into practice. And fell flat on its face.

The silver lining, if you can find one, is that it opens a spot for Robert Meachem on the roster. Despite playing well in the preseason, Meachem was inactive last Sunday because he couldn't overcome the team's top three receivers and doesn't play special teams. With Colston out, Meachem will have a chance to be the team's slot receiver behind starters David Patten and Devery Henderson.

But the real winner in this, I think, is Shockey. He will replace Colston as Drew Brees' safety valve and primary red zone target. He's got Colston's size and similarly reliable hands, and will serve Brees well until Colston is ready to return.