The Broncos’ latest playoff push has opened an unexpected question: could Denver get flagged for tampering over Drew Brees?
For now, it sounds like more smoke than fire. Sean Payton tried to cool the whole thing down on Tuesday, brushing off the idea that a reunion with his former quarterback was ever close to becoming real. That matters, because the Saints still held Brees’ contract rights, and any contact tied to a possible return could attract attention from the NFL office.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Brees briefly thought about stepping in to help replace Bo Nix for the AFC championship game, but ultimately decided his throwing arm was too worn down. Brees also told longtime NFL insider Ed Werder that his former coaches Joe Lombari and Pete Carmichael, both now with Denver, had reached out to him. Payton, though, said the sequence went the other way.
Here’s what Payton told Broncos reporters on Tuesday, via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio:
“Drew had reached out, I think, right after the championship or right after the playoff win against Buffalo. I think he called Pete, probably texted Pete or Joe, those guys.
None of it even came to my attention. So, when the story came up in Canton, I kept thinking they were just talking about the COVID season.
Even in the COVID season when he and I discussed possibly coming back for a Monday night game, he had trouble throwing it. So, I don’t think really anything really came of it.
I think in Drew’s mind, there’s that competitor in him. So, I was kind of out of the loop.
I don’t think it’s a big story, but nonetheless, certainly one that once they described it to me, it just never got to my level, I guess. He had reached out to Pete, I think, and then Joe.”
Werder added that once the trade deadline had passed, the idea was that Brees or Payton might have tried to get Mickey Loomis to release Brees’ rights so he could join the Broncos in January, if his arm had held up. It didn’t, and he didn’t.
Still, the possibility could be enough to draw a tampering look from the NFL. The key issue, at least from the outside, is that it may not matter who made the first call. We’ll see whether the league decides there’s anything worth chasing.
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