Patriots reportedly almost faced off against 47-year-old Drew Brees

The New England Patriots punched their ticket to the Super Bowl last season with a 10-7 road win against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game in January.

New England took advantage of a Broncos team that had to play without starting QB Bo Nix — who missed the game after fracturing his ankle in overtime during a playoff victory against the Bills.

Instead, the Broncos had to rely on backup Jarrett Stidham at QB — with the former Patriots draft pick committing a pair of turnovers at a snow-swept Empower Field at Mile High en route to a New England victory.

But the Patriots nearly faced a more seasoned opponent under center in that AFC title game, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Per Schefter, the Broncos — desperate for an upgrade at QB after Nix’s injury — approached NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees to gauge his interest in coming out of retirement to play in that game against the Patriots.

“Denver’s then-offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive assistant Pete Carmichael had discussions with Brees about the former star quarterback coming out of retirement to be ready for the AFC Championship Game, sources told ESPN,” Schefter wrote on Monday.

“Brees had turned 47 years old just two days before Nix suffered the ankle injury on Jan. 17. He spoke to Lombardi and Carmichael, his longtime assistant coaches with the Saints, early in the week ahead of Denver’s AFC Championship Game showdown against the Patriots, telling them that he wanted to first work out to see how his body would respond.

“But once he tried, Brees found discomfort in his wrist and nixed the idea that would have become one of the most improbable returns in NFL history, according to sources.”

Brees had not appeared in a game since Jan. 17, 2021, with the New Orleans Saints — and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this summer.

Even though Brees has plenty of history with now-Broncos coach Sean Payton after their extended run together with the Saints, Schefter reported that Payton did not know about the plan to bring Brees out of retirement.​

“Lombardi and Carmichael did not include Payton nor inform him about their initial conversations with Brees,” Schefter wrote. “The assistant coaches first wanted to see if Brees was willing to return to the NFL to help Denver try to reach the Super Bowl before informing Payton. Payton only heard about the behind-the-scenes plot in the offseason, according to sources.”

Brees would not have been the lone improbable comeback during the 2025 season, as 44-year-old Philip Rivers came out of retirement in December and played three games with the Colts after Indy lost QBs Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, and rookie Riley Leonard to injury.

Rivers — who was out of the NFL for nearly five years and coaching high school football in Alabama — threw four touchdowns and three interceptions in his final stint with the Colts this winter.​

After years of playing in the Superdome, it’s unclear how Breers would have fared in blizzard-like conditions in Denver had he been cleared to play in the AFC title game.

But it does make for an interesting wrinkle to a Patriots playoff run where New England had several fortunate breaks roll its way en route to Super Bowl LX.

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.