For Saints fans, Drew Brees will always be the face of a franchise reborn. The quarterback who brought a Super Bowl to New Orleans. The man who turned broken dreams into banners, and a once-questioned shoulder into one of the most prolific arms in NFL history. But what many thought was a blip was a pain that never left him. In 2023, Brees shared a stunning personal truth: he can no longer throw with his right arm. Not even in the backyard. That same shoulder he pushed through in 2005, the one that nearly ended his career before New Orleans ever began, has finally given out. Brees called it a “degenerative shoulder and all kinds of arthritic changes.”
He told ESPN Radio’s Greeny show, “Look, I’ll let you in on a little fact. I don’t throw with my right arm anymore. My right arm does not work.” The injury, suffered against the Chargers in 2005, required twelve anchors to hold his shoulder together. It was Dr. James Andrews’ most ever at the time! And for 15 seasons in black and gold, it held. Until it didn’t. “If I could,” Brees said, “I would absolutely still be playing.”
Yet, in the face of that loss, Brees hasn’t stopped giving. In a recent interview with Team Mustard, co-founded by elite trainer Tom House, Brees spoke not about pain, but purpose. His message? Stop chasing the result. Trust the grind. “I think something that’s very important to remember, especially in this day and age where everything in sports is so results-oriented, did you lose? Did you, you know, did you do this? Did you do that? At the end of the day, if you focus on the process, the result will take care of itself,” he said.
Brees added, “And what that allows you to do, too, is take a bit of the pressure or the burden off of thinking about the results so much and just focus each and every day on following through with the routine that you have put in place for yourself to be as successful as you could possibly be. So the first thing I’d say about a routine and process is: who does that belong to? It belongs to you.”
That perspective doesn’t come from highlight reels or record books; it’s born from everything the cameras never saw. Drew Brees, 46, now plays pickleball because it stays below the waist. He jokes, but he knows how real it is. That once-immortal arm, the one that launched 571 touchdowns and nearly 81,000 yards, no longer functions as it did. But the mind? Still sharp.
The heartbreak is obvious, but what makes Brees’ journey resonate is how he’s framing it. Not as an ending, but as a new play call. He knows he beat the odds once. And now, he’s handing off something more meaningful, an approach to adversity that isn’t about scoreboard victories. No wonder he wants to take up the headset and make his presence felt from the sidelines.
Drew Brees wants to coach… and he might just be a natural!
Chase Daniel didn’t hesitate. Naming the best leader he ever shared a locker room with, it wasn’t even close: “Drew Brees, hands down.” Daniel’s description wasn’t just about leadership in the rah-rah sense either. He talked about Brees rehearsing his pregame chants like he was delivering a State of the Union. He cared that much. “Every. Single. Thing,” Daniel wrote in The Athletic last month. From conditioning drills in that brutal Louisiana humidity to making the janitor feel just as important as the WR1. Brees led with consistency, and, as Daniel put it, “He made me fall in love with the process.”
So, naturally, when whispers of Brees stepping into coaching started circling again, it didn’t surprise anyone who knows his obsession with detail. He’s dipped his toes in before. Back in 2022, he took on an interim role at Purdue, his alma mater, helping guide the program through a transition. “For me, this is an opportunity to represent my school… and to help with the transition to Coach Walters,” Brees told College GameDay. It wasn’t just an appearance he was tryna make. He was diagramming plays and grinding tape like it was 2009 again.
But here’s the twist: he might not be doing this alone. Enter Reggie Bush. The Saints legend who once hurdled his way into NFL lore with Brees throwing crucial blocks. On the Up and Adams show, Bush said it loud and clear: “I would 100% be in full support, but I would also 100% want to coach with him.” Bush has been serious about coaching, even interviewing for the Sacramento State job and saying flat-out, “I would love to come back and be the head coach of USC.”
Whether this tag-team dream happens at a college or pro level is still up in the air. New Orleans? Not likely. The Saints have already revamped their coaching tree, now headlined by the 36-year-old Kellen Moore. But Brees and Bush coaching together? That’s a duo that knows how to win, and might just be gearing up for another run.
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