Drew Brees finally gets the New Orleans goodbye COVID denied him

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Five years after playing his final season without a packed Superdome, Drew Brees says Hall of Fame week is giving him the chance to celebrate with the city he never got to properly tell goodbye.

The New Orleans Saints released a video Monday featuring Brees and his wife, Brittany, reflecting on his arrival in New Orleans, his retirement and a football career that changed the franchise.

“My last season was COVID, so unfortunately, we weren’t in the packed Superdome for any of those games, and so didn’t get that full fan effect,” Brees said. “And then also, I really never had a retirement party because of COVID as well.”

Brees retired after the 2020 season, ending a 15-year run with the Saints that included the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship.

He said this week’s celebration feels like several unfinished moments coming together at once.

“So here we are five years later, and it’s almost maybe all wrapped into one, that this is kind of send-off, retirement party, Hall of Fame,” Brees said. “Just a grand appreciation. I mean, honestly, a grand appreciation for me to everybody who had a chance to be a part of this journey.”

Brittany Brees said the unusual end to his career kept both her husband and Saints fans from getting closure.

“You never got to say goodbye,” she said. “I think that was the hard thing because it was COVID, because it was such a weird situation.”

She said Saints fans watched Brees and their family grow up while they became intertwined with New Orleans.

“For you not to say goodbye probably bothered Drew just as much as other people had a hard time not being able to say goodbye to him,” she said.

Brees said he remains mentally sharp, watches football throughout the weekend, works in broadcasting and coaches his children during the week, even though the physical toll of his career prevents him from attempting a comeback.

“I still just have this insatiable appetite for the game,” Brees said. “And I hope that that remains for a really, really long time.”

That appetite has occasionally made him wonder whether he could still step onto a field and operate an offense.

“Mentally, I could still play the game,” Brees said. “Physically, obviously, there’s things that unfortunately began to kind of deteriorate toward the end.”

Brees said years of wear and tear eventually caught up with him.

“Mentally, I could still play,” he said. “Physically, my right side just wouldn’t allow.”

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Brittany joked that Brees still throws to their children with his left arm. The former quarterback responded that he remains “pretty deadly” with his left hand from inside 15 or 20 yards.

The video also revisits Brees’ decision to join the Saints in 2006 as he recovered from shoulder surgery and New Orleans continued rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

Brees described the free-agency process as nerve-racking because both sides were trying to impress one another.

“It was like a first date,” Brees said.

What separated New Orleans, he said, was its belief that he could recover and lead the franchise.

“Who believes in me? Who believes that I’m going to come back?” Brees said. “New Orleans, there was no doubt. One hundred percent, I was their guy.”

Brees will be presented by former Saints coach Sean Payton during his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement. The celebration will offer Brees, his family and Saints fans a long-delayed opportunity to close one chapter together.

“I finally, you know, kind of like the last song,” Brees said.

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