Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said he had no knowledge at the time of an extraordinary attempt by members of his staff to determine whether Drew Brees could come out of retirement and help Denver in last season’s AFC Championship Game. The possibility surfaced after starting quarterback Bo Nix suffered a fractured ankle in the Broncos’ divisional-round victory over the Buffalo Bills, leaving Denver scrambling for alternatives before its matchup with the New England Patriots.

Asked about the episode after Denver’s 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night, Payton said the discussions had taken place without him. “I never heard anything about it,” Payton said, adding that he learned of the situation later and was essentially in the same position as reporters hearing the details. He also described himself as the “odd man out” of the conversations.

That was particularly striking because of Payton’s history with Brees. The pair spent 15 seasons together in New Orleans, building one of the NFL’s defining coach-quarterback partnerships of the modern era. Brees became one of the league’s most prolific passers under Payton, while the Saints became perennial contenders and won Super Bowl XLIV following the 2009 season.

According to ESPN, however, the initial Denver conversations were conducted by then-offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive assistant Pete Carmichael. Both had extensive histories with Brees from their years on the Saints’ coaching staff. Rather than immediately presenting the possibility to Payton, the assistants first explored whether Brees had any genuine interest in returning and whether his body could handle an NFL game after nearly five years away.

Brees, who had turned 47 just two days before Nix’s January injury, did not immediately reject the idea. ESPN reported that he told Lombardi and Carmichael he wanted to test himself physically before deciding whether a comeback was realistic. He subsequently threw to evaluate how his body responded, but discomfort in his wrist ultimately helped convince him not to pursue the return.

The consideration was more than a completely new idea for Brees. During a February appearance on the “New Heights” podcast, he alluded to having had conversations about a possible playing opportunity and suggested there had been a moment when he wondered whether he could play that particular week. He did not identify Denver at the time. The more recent reporting connected those comments to the Broncos’ quarterback emergency before the AFC Championship Game.

Denver instead stayed with Jarrett Stidham, who had served as Nix’s backup. In difficult snowy conditions against New England, Stidham completed 17 of 31 passes for 133 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, while also losing a fumble. The Broncos’ defense kept the game close, but New England advanced with a 10-7 victory.

The timing made the Brees possibility remarkable even by the standards of postseason emergency planning. Brees retired in March 2021 after a 20-season NFL career, including 15 years with New Orleans following his first five seasons with the San Diego Chargers. He had been away from competitive football for years and was approaching his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction when Denver’s assistants raised the possibility of one more game. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the summer of 2026.

Familiarity nevertheless provided an obvious reason for Lombardi and Carmichael to make the inquiry. Brees knew the offensive principles associated with Payton, Lombardi and Carmichael from years of working together in New Orleans. In a playoff week with little preparation time, that institutional knowledge could at least have made him a more plausible emergency candidate than a quarterback who had never operated within the system.

Still, Payton’s comments make clear that the discussions never advanced to the point where the head coach was directly involved. ESPN reported that when Payton eventually heard what his assistants had explored, he initially thought they were referring to a different attempted Brees comeback from December 2021, when Payton was still coaching New Orleans. During that earlier episode, quarterback shortages prompted the Saints to explore whether Brees might temporarily return, but that possibility also went nowhere.

The distinction is significant. In the 2021 situation, Payton was directly involved. In Denver’s more recent discussions, the assistants apparently wanted to establish whether Brees was physically willing and capable before taking the idea further. Once Brees experienced wrist discomfort, there was little reason for the proposal to reach Payton.

That sequence also helps explain why two seemingly contradictory ideas can both be true: Denver staff members seriously explored Brees as a possible emergency quarterback, while Payton simultaneously had no contemporaneous knowledge that the conversations were occurring. There is no indication in the reporting that Denver reached the stage of announcing an agreement or adding Brees to its roster.

For the Broncos, the episode is now a historical footnote rather than a current quarterback question. Nix returned for the 2026 season and remains Denver’s starter and one of the team’s captains. The Broncos opened their schedule Monday night with a 31-10 loss at Kansas City and are preparing to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2 on Sept. 20.

But the Brees story offers a glimpse at just how unconventional Denver’s contingency planning became when Nix was lost at the most consequential point of the season. Had Brees’ workout produced a different physical response, Payton might eventually have faced one of the strangest personnel decisions of his coaching career: whether to reunite with the quarterback who defined his tenure in New Orleans for an AFC Championship Game. Instead, the idea ended before Payton even knew it existed.