Drew

Brees

Brees suffered a major dislocated shoulder in 2005 as the Chargers’ quarterback, and it is still impacting him today. The retired 44-year-old said he would still be playing if he could throw with his right arm, but he can only throw with his left due to the shoulder injury’s long-term fallout. Since retiring in 2021, there have been occasional rumors of a return, but at the age of 44, that was already unlikely prior to the revelation that Brees can no longer throw with his right arm.

“Knowing Drew Brees over the years, I do not take seriously his recent social media posts about unretiring to play QB in the NFL,” Werder said in a Tuesday Twitter post. Werder confirmed Brees recently underwent left shoulder surgery and wouldn’t be ready to take the field until September or October at the earliest. We’re confident Brees, 43, will stay retired, and that Jameis Winston will be under center for a revamped New Orleans offense in Week 1.

Brees, 43, who recently underwent shoulder surgery, said in a Twitter post Sunday that he “may work for NBC, I may play football again, I may focus on business and philanthropy.” A source close to the Hall of Fame quarterback told NBC Sports’ Peter King that Brees won’t return to football two years after he retired from the Saints. Allen said Brees’ tweet was probably “made in jest and we certainly haven’t had any conversations in that regard.” Completely unable to push the ball downfield in his final couple seasons with New Orleans, there’s almost no chance Brees makes a serious comeback attempt. Jameis Winston will be under center for New Orleans in Week 1.

Amidst reports that Brees will be one-and-done as King’s colleague, Brees himself tweeted that he “may work for NBC, I may play football again, I may focus on business and philanthropy.” A source close to Brees told King that the 43-year-old will "(not be) playing football” in 2022. The shoulder surgery can either be viewed as a complication to a potential return or a sign that Brees is actually considering it. We should get to the bottom of it this week. If Brees actually suits up in 2022, somewhere like Seattle or Carolina is probably more likely than his former home New Orleans.

Coach Sean Payton called Brees, according to Duncan, who gave it “serious thought.” Brees “nixed the idea” because he would have had less than a week to prepare. The Saints also checked in with Philip Rivers and Josh McCown about starting this week before ultimately signing Blake Bortles to back up to rookie Ian Book. It’s notable Brees was interested in returning to the Saints as a starter, but with Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian expected back from the COVID list next week, Brees will remain in his post-playing career.

Brees has been mulling retirement for the entire offseason but all reports indicated that he would be hanging up the cleats. Rumors of his retirement have been swirling for years but the Saints have been good enough for “one more season” to always apply to Brees and the team. After falling short in the Divisional Round versus the Bucs this year, Brees was finally ready to call it quits. At the time of his retirement, Brees holds the record for career passing yards at 80,358. His 571 passing touchdowns are second all-time, behind only Tom Brady, who will overtake him in the passing yards category in 2021. Brees was one of the most accurate passers in the league for two decades and also became a living legend in New Orleans sports history. The Saints will now look to Taysom Hill or Jameis Winston to lead their franchise going forward. Hill was made the starter when Brees missed time in 2020 but reports out of New Orleans indicate that they want to bring back Winston as the team’s future.

The trainer, Todd Durkin, posted a video in which Brees pushed a weight sled -- hardly the exercise routine of a 42-year-old getting ready to retire. The workout video was full of cryptic comments from Durkin, who said, “Don’t know what he’s doing, I’m not sure what he’s doing. Never quite been done before! That’s a new record because it’s never been done before!” while Brees pushed a sled across a parking lot. Saints head coach Sean Payton said nearly a month ago that he expected an announcement from Brees on his future with the team. That announcement never came. With Brees’ salary already slashed by $24 million to allow the Saints to carry a reduced cap number until June 2, the Hall of Fame QB would theoretically play for a base salary of $1.075 million if he shirks retirement. For fantasy purposes, Brees coming back for one last run with New Orleans would make Alvin Kamara a top-2 pick in 2021, while Michael Thomas would be far less desirable than he would be with Jameis Winston or another signal caller with more arm strength than the aged Brees.

Brees likely dropped his base salary from $25 million down to the veteran minimum ($1.1 million) to help the Saints with free agency. His retirement announcement is still expected to come shortly, although his retirement papers likely won’t clear until June 2nd so the Saints can save some 2021 cap space. Brees will come with dead cap hits of just north of $10 million over each of the next two seasons. The Saints could re-sign Jameis Winston to compete against Taysom Hill for the starting job this offseason. Their quarterback options will be limited because of their cap situation.

Thomas caught none of the four targets he saw in the Saints’ Divisional Round loss to the Bucs, smothered by Tampa CB Carlton Davis, who later flamed Thomas on Twitter. Interpersonal conflict might explain why Brees stopped looking Thomas’ way this season after Thomas enjoyed a target share of around 30 percent from 2017 to 2019. Whatever the reason, Thomas went from the most reliable receiver in fantasy football to little more than a WR4 with Brees under center. Thomas will be better off with Taysom Hill, who targeted Thomas at a far higher rate this season. That assumes the Saints go with Hill as their 2021 starter.

The 42-year-old is expected to retire. It’s not the way Brees wanted to go out, but his arm is cooked at this point in his career, as Brees is truly unable to push the ball down the field. Perhaps several broken ribs from earlier in the season are to blame, but his arm has lost several ticks on the fastball in recent years. Brees just didn’t have it in this one, and the Bucs scored three touchdowns off four Saints turnovers. If Brees does indeed hang up the cleats, he will retire as the all-time leader in completions and passing yards. Brees missed four games this season and finished the regular season 275-of-390 (70.5%) for 2,942 yards and a 24:6 TD:INT mark. In life after Brees, the Saints could turn to Taysom Hill and/or bring back Jameis Winston.