Saints reportedly tried to lure Drew Brees out of retirement amid QB crisis

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton personally called Drew Brees in the hopes that the recently retired legend would return to lead the team into the playoffs, according to a report from Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune.

According to Duncan, Brees "gave the idea some serious thought" and was interested in a return only if he'd be a starter and not a backup. The thought was eventually nixed by Brees, because "he wasn’t 100% confident he would be able to make the throws necessary" on such short notice to lead the Saints to success.

Brees, who will turn 43 in January, played his final season in 2020 and retired with the second-most passing yards and passing touchdowns in NFL history. Only Tom Brady, who is now 44 and continuing to play at a Pro Bowl level, is ahead of Brees in both categories.

Following his retirement, the Saints turned to Jameis Winston to take over at quarterback. After a strong start to the year with 14 touchdowns and only three interceptions, Winston suffered a season-ending knee injury on Halloween. New Orleans then turned to Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill, but lost five straight games.

The Saints won back-to-back games to climb back into postseason contention, but now plan to start rookie Ian Book in Week 16 after both Siemian and Hill landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list earlier this week. New Orleans signed former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles to be Book's backup.