Saints’ Bennie Fowler shares injury update , placed on IR (Photo)

The short-handed Saints will be with Bennie Fowler Sunday…and perhaps longer.

The New Orleans Saints are already tight when it comes to finding wide receivers. Now, they’ll likely be without a prime backup for some time.

The Saints placed Bennie Fowler on the injured reserved Friday after undergoing shoulder surgery. Fowler took to Instagram to let his and Saints followers know the status of his current condition.

Fowler will miss at least three weeks following this move according to the league IR policy. The earliest he could return would be Week 10 against the 49ers, though his injury looks severely worse than initially reported. Should this be the end of Fowler’s season, the 29-year-old will finish with two catches for 11 yards.

New Orleans will be short-handed this weekend for Drew Brees to find success against the Carolina Panthers. On Friday, the team ruled out Michael Thomas with a hamstring injury and placed No.2 option, Emmanuel Sanders, on the COVID-19/reserve list. Thomas, who has been out since Week 1, could have returned to the field two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Chargers, but the team elected to sit him following an altercation with fellow teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Who is New Orleans go-to target now?

With the duo out, Brees will likely turn to Tre’Quan Smith, who’s emerged as a quality No.3 option with the addition of Sanders taking snaps. In five games this season, the 24-year-old has finished with 16 catches off 21 targets for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Smith also has seen the most action outside of Sanders, taking at least 63.4 percent of Saints in Sean Peyton’s system.

The Saints will also have Deonte Harris and Marquez Callaway in the mix, who combined have seen 17 targets.  New Orleans also could elect to elevate Austin Carr, Juwan Johnson or Tommylee Lewis from the practice squad. But if all else fails, need forget Taysom Hill can do it all — at least according to someone somewhere.