Nick Saban’s NFL coaching career famously didn’t go to plan. And former New Orleans Saints head coach turned Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton may be a big reason why. Even if Saban doesn’t see things that way.
Rewind to the offseason leading into the 2006 NFL season and Saban was regarded as an up-and-coming NFL coach coming off a 9-7 first year as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
However, the organization desperately needed a quarterback of the future following an uninspiring season with Gus Frerotte under center. This had them going after Drew Brees in free agency, who would of course instead sign with the New Orleans Saints and go on to have a Hall of Fame career.
What some may not know, which Saban outlined on during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark on Tuesday, was that the reason that Brees didn’t end up signing with the Dolphins was due to a failed physical that Saban and the Dolphins organization didn’t share with any other team.
“I never learned how to coach bad players to play good,” admitted Saban. “So I always recruited my ass off so that we always had good players. That was the problem in Miami. We never had a quarterback and we had Drew Brees there ready to sign and the doctors failed him on a physical. He was there, he was all set. The last thing you do before you sign a contract is you go do a physical. So I’m like this is all done. And then they call me on the phone and say we don’t think he can play.
“But Dr. Andrews in Birmingham did his surgery. And also did it on (Daunte) Culpepper. He did it on both guys. And I flew to see him before we ever got went this road to see what his thoughts were because I had a lot of respect for him. I had a lot of respect for him, he’s an LSU guy. I flew up there and talked to him and he said Drew Brees will be fine.”
New Orleans & Tuscaloosa owe the Dolphins medical staff a great deal of gratitude. Drew Brees failed his physical in ‘06 during his free agent visit to Miami. Nick Saban wanted to sign the Future Hall of Famer that offseason.
The deal was dead. Brees’ agent had a favor to ask of… pic.twitter.com/15ixrIhXfM
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) January 22, 2025
As Saban recalls it, Brees was all but signed with the Dolphins before the failed physical. But Sean Payton, who has just become the Saints head coach just months before getting Brees to sign, sees things differently.
In a post on X, Payton pointed out that in his eyes, Saban’s story had a piece missing.
“A little bit missing in this piece,” wrote Payton in response to seeing Saban’s story.
A little bit missing in this piece…
— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) January 23, 2025
Payton has also previously recalled how he was able to lure Brees into signing with the Saints, which had been a disaster of an organization to the point in a city just starting to rebound from Hurricane Katrina.
In the NFL Films documentary America’s Game: The 2009 Saints looking back at the organization’s Super Bowl championship, Payton outlined that his ability to sell Brees on the city of New Orleans was what got Brees to sign. Although it was far from a perfect pitch given the damage to the city from the recent hurricane.
“I was gonna take Drew and Brittany where they might want to live,” said Payton in the documentary. “All that went fine. But on the way back, I took the wrong turn. And I can’t tell you where we ended up really. I remember feeling like I ought to just drive this guy right to Miami right now. I mean, it was awful.”
Brees was also part of the documentary and largely concurred with Payton, saying that he found the “deeper meaning” in being apart of reviving the city of New Orleans. Although he did admit that before meeting with Payton, the Dolphins were his “obvious choice”.
Maybe Saban is telling the truth and Brees and Payton are the ones who have revisionist history due to Brees’ failed physical. But clearly, these two do not see eye to eye on the matter. Either way, things of course ended up pretty great for everyone involved.