Sean Payton challenges Nick Saban’s Drew Brees Saints story | Saints

Former Saints head coach Sean Payton took to social media Wednesday to challenge legendary former Alabama head coach Nick Saban on his recollection of how Drew Brees ended up in New Orleans in 2006.

Nineteen years ago, Saban was entering his second campaign as the head coach of the Dolphins following a 9-7 season.

Despite the winning mark, the Dolphins went into free agency in desperate need of a quarterback and pursued Brees, who was recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered during the 2005 season finale with the San Diego Chargers.

On “The Pivot Podcast,” Saban said Brees was ready to sign with the Dolphins, but he failed his physical.

“You can’t call up the owner and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to sign this guy and give him all this money … and he might not be able to play,” Saban said. “So, I didn’t want to get in that briar patch with the owner, so I said ‘OK.’”

The rest was history.

“I actually regretted it because that year, Drew Brees plays lights out for New Orleans,” Saban said.

Of course, Brees went on to become the greatest player in Saints franchise history from 2006-21, and led the team to its only Super Bowl championship in 2010.

Saban said after the Dolphins couldn’t sign Brees, he called Brees’ agent and told him about the failed physical. Saban said Brees’ agent said news of the quarterback’s failed physical couldn’t become publicized because then no team would want to sign him.

“And I said, ‘Nobody would know,’” Saban said. “‘How much time do you need?’ He said, ‘Like, 72 hours.’ I never told anybody. Nobody knew [about the failed physical] for 72 hours until he signed with New Orleans.”

New Orleans & Tuscaloosa owe the Dolphins medical staff a great deal of gratitude. Drew Brees failed his physical in ‘06 during his free agent visit to Miami. Nick Saban wanted to sign the Future Hall of Famer that offseason.

The deal was dead. Brees’ agent had a favor to ask of… pic.twitter.com/15ixrIhXfM

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) January 22, 2025

Sean Payton isn’t buying it

Payton, who is now the head coach of the Denver Broncos after leaving the Saints in 2022, commented on the clip with a simple sentence.

“A little bit missing in this piece…” Payton responded to the clip that “Pivot” host Ryan Clark posted on X.

A little bit missing in this piece…

— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) January 23, 2025

Brees, who retired after the 2020 season, was lured to New Orleans by Payton and the Saints front office. On a Payton-guided tour of a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2006, the former Purdue quarterback was given a glimpse of what awaited him in New Orleans.

After giving the Brees family a tour of the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, Payton returned to the city and took a wrong turn down a road that was blocked by a tugboat.

Aside from the emotional aspect of taking on the challenge of helping lift an entire city and region, Brees said he felt more wanted by Payton and the Saints.

“The trips were very different in the feelings that I got from the people,” Brees said, according to a 2009 Times-Picayune story. “Miami was one of those kind of places that, like, everyone would just expect, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to come to Miami?’ Whereas New Orleans was like, ‘We want you.’ Like, ‘We really want you. You are our guy. We have as much confidence in you as you have in yourself to come back from this injury and be better than you ever were before. And not only from the standpoint of the organization and the team, but also what you can do for the city.’”

After losing out on Brees, the Dolphins traded for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who also had health concerns coming into the 2006 season. While Brees bounced back and played the best football of his career post-torn labrum and damaged rotator cuff for 15 years, Culpepper regressed even more health wise and only lasted four more seasons in the NFL.

He played four games for the Dolphins.

In January 2007, Saban took the job to become the head coach at the University of Alabama.