Before the Denver Broncos kicked off their 2026 season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football, ESPN's Adam Schefter dropped a big story about the club's 2025 campaign.
After the Broncos lost quarterback Bo Nix to a season-ending ankle injury in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, then-offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive assistant Pete Carmichael reached out to a 47-year-old Drew Brees about potentially coming out of retirement, according to Schefter's report.
Brees had hinted about such a scenario during a podcast interview in February, but he did not specifically mention the team involved. Following Schefter's report, Brees confirmed to Ed Werder that he considered unretiring.
However, after working out with
his son, "Brees said his right wrist and shoulder were so damaged he couldn’t throw 15 yards with necessary velocity," Werder tweeted on Tuesday.
With Brees physically unable to return, Denver ended up starting Jarrett Stidham in the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots, and Stidham had two costly turnovers in a 10-7 loss.
Following the Broncos' 31-10 loss to the Chiefs on Monday, head coach Sean Payton was asked about Schefter's report on the team's contact with Brees during the playoffs.
"I just know I was the odd man out, and I never heard anything about it, so it never came to anything," Payton said. "I was only told about it later. I didn’t; I was just like you guys.”
Payton fired Lombardi following the 2025 season, and Carmichael left this offseason to fill an offensive coordinator job with the Buffalo Bills. Consequently, the 2026 campaign marks Payton's first season as a head coach without at least one of Lombardi or Carmichael on his staff.
Payton was asked about the Brees story again during his conference call with reporters on Tuesday. He downplayed it as not a big story and said he didn't even find out about it until Brees' enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
“When this topic came up at the Hall of Fame, I kept thinking they were discussing the COVID season," Payton said. "Drew had reached out, I think, right after the championship or right after the playoff win against Buffalo. I think he called Pete, probably texted Pete or Joe, those guys. None of it even came to my attention. So, when the story came up in Canton, I kept thinking they were just talking about the COVID season. Even in the COVID season, when he and I discussed possibly coming back for a Monday night game, he had trouble throwing it.
"So, I don’t think really anything really came of it. I think in Drew’s mind, there’s that competitor in him. So, I was kind of out of the loop. I don’t think it’s a big story, but nonetheless, certainly one that once they described it to me, it just never got to my level, I guess. He had reached out to Pete, I think, and then Joe.”
In the end, Broncos fans are left to wonder what could have been had Brees felt up to playing. It would have been an incredible story, but the former quarterback just didn't have the wrist strength to pull off a comeback.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Sean Payton on Broncos reaching out to Drew Brees: 'I was the odd man out'
