When many NFL fans around the world think of the New Orleans Saints, one of if not the first player they think of is Drew Brees. A franchise icon, one of the best quarterbacks to ever step on a football field, the man who brought a Super Bowl to New Orleans, and a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. However, there was the potential for Brees to have never signed with the Saints, and instead gone to the Miami Dolphins where longtime Alabama head coach Nick Saban was running the show.
Nick Saban recently went on ‘The Pivot’ podcast featuring Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and Channing Crowder to discuss a wide array of topics. One of the topics that came up was Drew Brees, his failed physical with the Dolphins, as well as the phone call Saban had with Brees’ agent regarding how long he needed the physical to not be made public, allowing the deal to go through for the Saints. He made it clear that the physical was the reason he turned away, and also that he did end up regretting it no doubt.
“Now the other part about that is, I actually had to call his agent and say we had a deal, but he didn’t pass the physical,” Saban recalled. “And he said ‘oh man Nick, you can’t tell people he didn’t pass the physical, I’ll never get him signed anyplace.’ And I said nobody will know, how much time do you need, he said like 72 hours, so I never told anybody. Nobody knew for 72 hours, until he signed in New Orleans.”
The intriguing part about this is the response to this post, in which former Saints head coach Sean Payton responded with an ominous post saying, “A little bit missing in this piece…” As of the writing of this article there has been no further context added, however, some have speculated it could be in regards to the phone call Saban had with Brees after the fact regarding the physical.
In Brees’ book titled “Coming Back Stronger” there is an excerpt on pages 106 to 108 (found thanks to a response post) which talks about the phone call he had with Saban after the failed physical. This phone call essentially boiled down to Brees calling in, and trying to get closure on whether or not Saban truly wanted him, physical or not. Saban would make it clear that the physical was the physical, and that is what he had to believe, while Brees thought his response sounded “scripted” to an extent. Brees had already received positive affirmations from the Saints in their beliefs about his abilities and his recovery, which ultimately led to him signing there rather than the Dolphins.
The whole situation is obviously somewhat of a touchy one even nearly 20 years later, as Saban would end up going back to Alabama in 2007 and Sean Payton remains in the NFL to date (though obviously both have had enormously successful careers in their own right). Brees ultimately became a franchise defining player who the Saints still are having trouble living without, and the Dolphins traded a second round pick for Dante Culpepper who was cut the next offseason.
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