Drew Brees would have given his professional football career a few more years without his shoulder.
The former Super Bowl champion lamented that the decline in his right shoulder kept him from moving beyond the 20 years he spent in the NFL.
“Honestly, man, if my right arm still worked, I probably would have played another three years,” Brees told reporters Thursday, according to ESPN. “My body feels good. My body can play, my right arm can’t. Unfortunately, that’s what forced me to move away. And it was time too.
Brees retired after the 2020 season and will be inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame later this year.
But the former football star said he felt like there was no closure when his time in the NFL ended.
Brees retired during a season in which a small number of fans were allowed into only select NFL venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and fewer than 4,000 were in attendance when the Saints fell to the Buccaneers in the NFC wild-card round, which was his final career game.
The 45-year-old admitted he had considered ending his retirement, but limitations due to his surgically repaired shoulder prevented him from doing so.
“At the end of the day, it’s like I’m capable… Am I capable of doing the job, right? I would have made QB draws, I would have done anything. I would have made a turn option. We would have pulled out all the stops. I was ready. Pull out the high school playbook,” Brees said.
Brees can still throw — he said he can throw the ball 30 yards with his left hand — when he plays football with his kids.
“Unfortunately, it takes a little more than that to compete at this level,” he said.
Brees spent the first five years with the Chargers in San Diego before moving to New Orleans for the 2006 season.
He finished with 80,358 passing yards and 571 touchdown passes in his career while leading the Saints to a championship in Super Bowl XLIV.
New York Post
