Saints to change doctors after Breaux’s misdiagnosis

METAIRIE, La. Saints coach Sean Payton says cornerback Delvin Breaux needs lower-leg surgery that will sideline him about six weeks and that the initial misdiagnosis of Breaux’s injury has sparked a shake-up in the team’s medical staff.

Payton says Breaux has a fibula fracture that was initially diagnosed as a contusion. Breaux has missed more than a week of practice and Payton says he had been getting frustrated with the pace of Breaux’s recovery, based on the initial diagnosis.

The coach says the Saints will replace two orthopedic surgeons and in the meantime receive help from Chargers physicians during joint practices in California leading up to their game Sunday in Los Angeles.

Arbitrator Harold Henderson to hear Elliott’s appeal of ban: Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott’s appeal of a sixgame suspension over a domestic violence case will be heard by arbitrator Harold Henderson, who reduced Greg Hardy’s ban when the defensive end was with the Cowboys two years ago.

Henderson is one of the people approved by Commissioner Roger Goodell to hear appeals under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

The league concluded after a yearlong investigation that Elliott, the 2016 NFL rushing leader as a rookie, had several physical confrontations that left his girlfriend with bruises last summer in Ohio. Prosecutors didn’t pursue the case, citing conflicting and inconsistent information.

— Wire services