AP

When the Saints lost safety Jairus Byrd for the season, they turned to Rafael Bush.

It looks like they’ll need to see what’s behind door No. 3 as they try to turn their current 4-6 record into something that can outlast the other aspirants in the NFC South. Ramon Antonio Vargas of the Baton Rouge Advocate reports that Bush said after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals that he fractured his tibia late in the contest.

It was just a freak accident,” Bush said. “Obviously, you don’t want those things happening that late in the game. Things have already … gotten out of hand, but we kind of knew the outcome of this game. But being competitors and continuing to fight, that’s just all I was doing.

That injury would likely knock him out for the year. Bush wasn’t great this season, but if the Saints had a surer bet on the roster they would have been on the field already. Marcus Ball and Jamarca Sanford are the reserve safeties currently on the 53-man roster and one of them will likely be moving up to the first team alongside Kenny Vaccaro.

Anything they come up will have to work fast because the Saints don’t have too much more margin for error to use up this season.