NEW ORLEANS —
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate reported that the Saints reached out to Drew Brees to get him back on the field in the black and gold.
When both quarterbacks went on the COVID-19 list Brees was the first person the Saints called and that call came from Sean Payton himself.
Brees is in Hawaii with his family and gave the idea some serious thought but according to the reports he did not want to return as a backup or on short notice without time to train.
Josh McCown and Philip Rivers also received calls from the Saints, according to The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate. Rivers retired after last season and is now a head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama. McCown last appeared in a game in 2019 for the Philadelphia Eagles.
With the Saints striking out on calls to retired quarterbacks rookie Ian Book will make his first start on Monday night against the Miami Dolphins.
Sean Payton said about Book, "he’s going to do fine. He’s excited about the opportunity. Obviously, there will be some plays where we want to get on to the next play, but you know, he is kind of going to class with the game plan. He’s done a good job of handling that. It’s up to us as coaches to get him the right things relative to the game and where we’re at offensively.”
The New Orleans Saints now have 16 players on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list after placing defensive end Carl Granderson on the list Saturday.