Drew Brees: I could’ve played three more years in NFL if my arm held up

Drew Brees would have given his professional football career a few extra years if it wasn’t for his shoulder. 

The one-time Super Bowl champion lamented the fact that the decline in his right throwing shoulder had prevented him from going beyond the 20 years he spent in the NFL. 

“Honestly, man, if my right arm was still working, I probably would’ve played another three years,” Brees told reporters Thursday, according to ESPN. “My body feels great. My body can play, my right arm can’t. Unfortunately, that’s what kind of forced me to step 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 that he felt like there had been a lack of closure to the end of his time in the NFL. 

Brees retired during a season in which a small number of fans were allowed into only some NFL venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and less than 4,000 were on hand when the Saints fell to the Buccaneers in the NFC wild-card round, which was his final career game.

The 45-year-old admitted that he had considered coming out of retirement, but the limitations due to his surgically repaired shoulder kept him from doing it. 

“At the end of the day, it’s like, how capable … Am I to do the job, right? I would’ve run QB draws, I would’ve done whatever. I would’ve done some veer option. We would’ve pulled out all the stops. I was ready. Pull out the high school playbook,” Brees said. 

Brees can still throw — he said he can send the ball 30 yards with his left hand —  when he plays football with his kids. 

“Unfortunately, you need a little bit 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 over his career while leading the Saints to a championship in Super Bowl XLIV.