Sean Payton's story about Drew Brees' contact with the Denver Broncos during the NFL playoffs is very different than the retired quarterback's story.
Before the Broncos kicked off their 2026 season on Monday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that former Broncos coaches Joe Lombardi and Pete Carmichael reached out to Brees about potentially playing for the team in the AFC Championship game after Bo Nix broke his ankle in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Brees confirmed Shefter's report, telling Ed Werder that he did a throwing workout after being contacted by Lombardi and Carmichael, and that workout confirmed that Brees didn't have the throwing velocity required to play following past shoulder and wrist injuries.
When head coach Sean Payton
had a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, he said it was Brees who contacted Lombardi and Carmichael, not the other way around. Payton also said he didn't hear about it at all until he attended the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement for Brees in August.
So, either Payton misspoke, or one of the sides has the facts wrong. It could be a simple misunderstanding about who contacted who. However, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk thinks it was an intentional narrative change from Payton in an effort to avoid punishment for potential tampering. Because Brees was on the reserve/retired list with the New Orleans Saints, Broncos coaches weren't allowed to contact him about playing for their team.
Whether it was a simple misunderstanding or an intentional changing of the story, Payton's narrative about the Brees contact does not match Schefter's reporting or the former QB's story.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Sean Payton and Drew Brees have conflicting stories about Broncos' contact
