After Bo Nix went down with a fractured ankle in the Broncos’ divisional round win over the Bills last January, Drew Brees reportedly considered coming out of retirement to play for Denver in the AFC championship game, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. According to Schefter, former Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive assistant Pete Carmichael spoke with Brees about returning to play for them in the AFC title game against the Patriots. Lombardi and Carmichael, along with Broncos head coach Sean Payton, coached Brees on the Saints for over a decade. Payton, however, did not know about their talks with Brees about a potential return until this offseason. The Broncos speaking to Brees about a potential return came a month after Philip Rivers shockingly came out of retirement to play for the Colts in the wake of Daniel Jones’s torn Achilles. Rivers, who retired after the 2020 season, performed well for a 45-year-old quarterback who hadn’t played in a game in nearly five years, throwing for 544 yards, four touchdowns and three picks. While Rivers’s return was a fun story, he did not play well enough to lead the Colts to victory over his three starts or keep their playoff dreams alive. Ultimately, Schefter reported, Brees told Lombardi and Carmichael that he wanted to work out first to feel how his body reacted. After feeling discomfort in his wrist, Brees officially decided against a potential comeback. Had Brees felt good to go, Schefter says Payton would have signed him and picked to start either him or Stidham. Had Brees, 47, opted to come back, he would’ve been the second-oldest quarterback in NFL history to play in a game, only behind George Blanda, who appeared in a game at the age of 48. Instead, the Broncos went with their backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who also hadn’t started a game in multiple years when he made his fifth start in the AFC championship game. While Stidham and the Broncos got off to a solid start, he made a critical mistake when his attempted throwaway was ruled a backwards pass that the Patriots recovered. The Patriots converted that turnover into a touchdown and scored another field goal, which was all the points they needed to win a game that turned into a snowstorm. The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl after the 10–7 win, leaving the Broncos wondering “what if” Nix hadn’t gotten hurt. Could the Broncos’ fortunes have been different had Brees returned? The NFL will never know. Perhaps Denver could have beaten the Patriots to advance to the Super Bowl. Either way, however, it’s difficult to imagine they would have been able to take down the Seahawks and their ferocious defense with an older Brees at the helm, especially since his body didn’t feel good enough for a return in the first place.While Brees didn’t return and give himself a chance to make a second Super Bowl appearance, he still had plenty to celebrate. He was elected for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame a few weeks after the Broncos’ loss. He was officially inducted into the Hall last month, with Payton there to present him into Canton. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow