encouraging news, taken from nola.......
 

. Quarterback Drew Brees will return to Birmingham, Ala., to continue rehabilitating his surgically repaired throwing shoulder. When practice ended Sunday, Brees stayed behind with several other injured offensive players who had not taken part in drills, such as McAllister, tight ends Ernie Conwell and Shad Meier and wide receiver Donté Stallworth and ran through a few plays. At the end of several plays, Brees lightly tossed the ball to McAllister and smiled when asked whether those soft tosses were the first he has attempted since the Jan. 5 surgery. "Well, I mean, it's nothing nobody doesn't know about," he said. "The physical therapy folks in Birmingham know exactly what I'm doing all the time. We're right on track." . . . Payton said he was pleased with the five practices of this voluntary minicamp. "We gave them a lot early," Payton said. "We knew we wanted to do that. Overall, I thought they handled the installations real well. The players understand we need to be in better shape. It's April. We've got time. They understand how strongly we feel about it. There were some good things. I was pleased there weren't many mental errors in the first three days."


it certainly can't be bad if he's lightly tossing balls...........smitty