[Exclusive] Drew Brees Clears Stance on Un-Retirement, Shares Fitness Update

Earlier this month, legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback and the NFL’s second all-time passing leader, Drew Brees, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After 20 incredible years in the NFL, Brees retired in 2020 at the age of 41, and now he’s forever enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

Nowadays, quarterbacks are able to play longer than ever before. Even though Brees played until he was 41, it still felt like there was something left in the tank when he hung it up after the 2020 season, and even he believes that. In an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Brees said that he feels like he could still be playing today if it weren’t for the severe shoulder injury he suffered back in 2005.

“My body, my mind, everything feels like I could still get out there, but unfortunately my right shoulder and right wrist aren’t in great shape,” Brees said. “I got all the mileage I possibly could out of both of those. When I had major shoulder surgery back in 2006, Doctor Andrews basically said, ‘I’ll put you back together, just wear out the tires and know you’re on a fast track to a degenerative shoulder.’ I’ll probably have to get a shoulder replacement at some point, but I’m holding on as long as I can.”

In 2005, Brees was a member of the San Diego Chargers. He was coming off his two best seasons in the NFL, having thrown for 3,000+ yards and 24+ touchdowns in 2004 and 2005. But during the regular-season finale, Brees suffered a 360-degree labrum tear along with other structural damage while trying to recover a fumble.

After his injury, the Chargers let him walk in free agency, and he had two suitors: the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints. He wanted to go and join Nick Saban in Miami, but their doctors gave him just a 25 percent chance to ever play football again, so he ended up signing with the Saints, and the rest is history.

Brees led New Orleans to their first and only Super Bowl in 2009 before retiring as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and completions. Tom Brady has since passed him in all three categories, but at the time of his retirement, Brees was leading despite playing in fewer games.

There were a lot of things impressive about Drew Brees’s career, but his ability to play at an extremely high level into his 40s has only been matched by Tom Brady. Even late in his career, when his shoulder was shot and he could hardly throw the ball 30+ yards downfield, he was surgical, completing over 70 percent of his throws and averaging over 250 yards per game in each of his final five seasons.

Very few quarterbacks have been able to do what Brees did in his late 30s/early 40s, and in an interview with EssentiallySports, he revealed why he and guys like Matthew Stafford have been able to find so much success late in their careers.

Drew Brees Explains His Late-Career Success

Drew Brees has always been known for his work ethic. He was never the tallest, fastest, or strongest guy on the football field, and I know it sounds cliche, but he was always a “first-one-in, last-one-out-type” of guy. Don’t get it twisted, Brees was still a fantastic athlete. His father played baseball at Texas A&M, and his mother was an All-State athlete in three different sports in high school, but he wasn’t a Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.

Today’s NFL is built to protect quarterbacks. You can’t hit them low, you can’t hit them high, and you can’t put your entire body weight on them. It can be frustrating to watch at times, but it’s also allowed some of the greats to stay healthy and play well into their 30s, and even into their 40s.

In his interview with EssentiallySports, Brees explained that when you reach the age of 35, your body is usually still in good enough shape to be near its prime, but you’ve also experienced so much in the NFL that you’re ready for anything your opponent throws at you, and that’s why he thinks he and guys like Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford had some of the best years of their career in their late 30s.

“The guys that are in their late 30s, think about how much football they’ve seen and experienced. You’re not going to throw much at them that they can’t handle or that they don’t have an answer for immediately,” Brees explained. “It’s just ingrained in them because of all that time on task. When you can matchup the physical abilities that you have with this knowledge, experience, and wisdom, that’s when you’re riding at this level of elite, and that’s where (Matthew) Stafford is.”

In 2015 and 2016, when Brees was 35 and 36 years old, he had two of the best seasons of his career. In 2015, Brees completed 68.3 percent of his throws for 4,870 yards and 32 touchdowns before following that up with 5,208 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2016. His shoulder started to give out after his age 36 season, but he still went on to lead the league in completion percentage in three of his last four seasons.

With rules favoring quarterbacks and players taking far better care of their bodies nowadays, we’re going to continue to see guys play into their late 30s, and barring any major injuries, most of them should only continue to get better. And when you look at how guys like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and others have played early in their careers, that’s a scary thought.

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