ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Drew Brees has especially been on Sean Payton's mind lately.
The Denver Broncos coach and several of his staff members who worked with him in New Orleans will miss practice to attend the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies on Aug. 8 where Payton is introducing the quarterback for enshrinement.
Brees, who worked with Payton for 15 years with the Saints, asked Payton via a video call earlier this summer to introduce him in Canton,
Ohio.
“It caught me off-guard,” Payton said Thursday. “I was with a group, we were getting ready to golf the next day. I have an Android phone, so I had never really gotten a FaceTime (call), and yeah, it was just a lot, being 15 years together. ...
“It was, as a coach, an honor, that somebody would ask you to do that.”
Payton said he'll leave after practice on Aug. 7 and miss Saturday's workout in Denver the following day, when defensive coordinator Vance Joseph will run practice ahead of an off-day.
Highlights of their time together came rushing back when he was asked to introduce his former pupil, Payton said.
“Fifteen years is just a long time, a lot of hours, and one of the questions I was asked: ‘When did you realize he was a Hall of Famer? And then the follow-up was when did you realize he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer?’”
That was on Feb. 7, 2010, when Brees and the Saints beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl 44 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.
"The second half of that Super Bowl, I don't know if a ball touched the ground — in a moment where everything you've worked for” is on the line, “and we didn't really have a good first half offensively and in the second half he was outstanding.”
Payton said he reflects on similarities between Brees and his current quarterback, Bo Nix, who led the Broncos to a 14-3 record and a win over Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs last season. Nix missed the Broncos' 10-7 loss to New England in the AFC championship with a broken right ankle he suffered in overtime against Buffalo.
"I think that No. 1, they were high-volume college players,” Payton said. “(Brees) played a lot of snaps at Purdue, and I would say the immediate just analytical, statistical number would be the accuracy numbers. From an NFL perspective, (Brees) will go down as the most accurate passer in the history of the league and collegiately he was at Purdue. And I think historically speaking, Bo was the most accurate college passer when you look at a lot of numbers.”
Payton recorded his introduction speech in June prior to a minicamp practice but asked the videographer to refilm the segment after practice. “And she asked me why? And I said I just know if we do the whole thing over again there's going to be certain answers that are different that you reflect on. And so after practice we went back for another three hours.”
The Saints and Miami Dolphins were both in play for Brees, who was coming off a torn right rotator cuff in the regular-season finale, when he hit free agency in 2006, Payton's first year as Saints coach. But the Saints offered more guaranteed money and Brees and his wife embraced the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina and chose New Orleans.
Payton acknowledged he thought the Saints didn't have a shot at signing Brees because they didn't know what Miami would offer, and then he got lost driving Brees and his wife around New Orleans, which was still recovering from Katrina.
“I remember looking in the rearview mirror and Brittany was dozing off,” Payton said, “And I thought, I should just take them to the airport now."
His instincts were off, and Brees soon signed.
Brees didn't throw until training camp and in the preseason was still not up to speed: “I said, ‘I’m tired of seeing Roger Goodell's name on the ball when he throws it,'" Payton recounted, moving his hand in a slow circle. But Brees quickly regained his velocity and form to become one of the game's great passers.
“There was something unique about him,” Payton said. “And he had a chip on his shoulder,” first for being a second-round pick by the Chargers and then for getting released by them.
“He was an amazing competitor,” Payton said.
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