Nick Saban says Drew Brees had agreed to join Miami before team doctors failed his physical, so he promised to keep it quiet for 48 hours while Brees pursued another deal “I had the opportunity to get Drew Brees. Drew Brees was there. [We] agreed to a contract. He went to take a physical, just had shoulder operation on his throwing shoulder.” “Jimmy Andrews did the surgery. I went to Birmingham, and talked to Jimmy Andrews. He said he’d be fine. Our doctors were skeptical because of this injury, so they didn’t pass him on the physical.” “So you can’t pay a guy a huge bonus if the doctors don’t say he’s going to be able to play.” “So I told Drew, I said, ‘Hey, man, I’m not saying anything about this for 48 hours. Go make you a deal, because we can’t do it here because of this physical situation.’” “And that’s when he went to the Saints.”