On Monday, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the Broncos talked to quarterback Drew Brees about joining the team for the AFC Championship, without acknowledging that Brees’s status on the Saints’ reserve-retired list made the move impossible.
What is possible, based on Schefter’s report, is a tampering case against the Broncos.
Schefter reported that former Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and former Broncos offensive assistant Pete Carmichael spoke to Brees about a potential unretirement. Brees has since told Ed Werder that the former Saints assistants contacted Brees about the possibility. On Tuesday, Broncos coach Sean Payton offered a different version regarding who called whom.
“Drew had reached out, I think, right after the championship or right after the playoff win against Buffalo,” Payton told reporters. “I think he called Pete, probably texted Pete or Joe, those guys. None of it even came to my attention. So, when the story came up in Canton, I kept thinking they were just talking about the COVID season. Even in the COVID season when he and I discussed possibly coming back for a Monday night game, he had trouble throwing it. So, I don’t think really anything really came of it. I think in Drew’s mind, there’s that competitor in him. So, I was kind of out of the loop. I don’t think it’s a big story, but nonetheless, certainly one that once they described it to me, it just never got to my level, I guess. He had reached out to Pete, I think, and then Joe.”
Payton is smart. Very smart. The last thing he needs is the league office thinking the Broncos reached out to a player who is technically under contract with the Saints, without permission from the Saints. Even if the Saints don’t file a tampering complaint, the league can act without one. For example, the NFL whacked the Dolphins in 2022 for tampering after it stumbled over evidence that Miami had tampered with Payton and Tom Brady while investigating an unrelated matter.
And while it technically doesn’t matter if Lombardi and/or Carmichael contacted Brees or Brees contacted them, the situation has a different vibe if someone from the Broncos made the first move without first realizing that Brees wasn’t and isn’t a free agent.
Time will tell if the league does anything about it. The Broncos’ effort to recast the interaction as being initiated by Brees suggests that, at some level, the Broncos are concerned about coming under the inconsistent and unpredictable scrutiny of Big Shield.
