Drew Brees Says He Can Only Throw Left-Handed in Retirement Due to 2005 Injury

The future Hall of Famer is still affected by the hit that ended his Chargers tenure.

Drew Brees, southpaw?

It seems hard to imagine. Vanishingly few left-handed quarterbacks have succeeded in the NFL, with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa the most prominent contemporary example. Beyond that, Brees's pinpoint delivery with his right arm is etched in the consciousness of fans that followed him at Purdue and with the Chargers and Saints.

The Brees of retirement, though, is a different animal than the Brees that tore through opponents in the Big Ten and NFL—even just three short years after hanging up his cleats.

"I'll let you in on a little fact: I don't throw with my right arm anymore. My right arm does not work," Brees told ESPN Radio Tuesday evening. "When I throw in the backyard right now, I throw left-handed. I can play pickleball because it's below the waist, but anything above my shoulders I have a hard time with."

Hold up…Drew Brees is a lefty now? (No, not clickbait)

Great story from @drewbrees about how his famous shoulder injury in 2005 still impacts him today. pic.twitter.com/7xKXi99aZ9

— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) November 21, 2023

The culprit? A catastrophic shoulder injury Brees suffered on New Year's Eve 2005 during a 23-7 San Diego loss to the Broncos. That injury hastened Brees's departure for New Orleans in March 2006, where he went from solid starter to surefire Hall of Famer.

"It's definitely a result of the injury that I suffered when I left San Diego, the dislocated right shoulder... That kind of put me on the fast track to a degenerative shoulder," Brees said.