#Drew Brees’ NFL injury nightmare worse than thought, wife says

Drew Brees didn’t just suffer 11 rib fractures and a punctured lung in what was likely his final NFL season.

The future Hall of Famer and Saints quarterback also played with a torn rotator cuff (although it’s unclear whether it was in his right throwing shoulder) and torn fascia (connective tissue) in his foot, his wife Brittany revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

“Makes me think I should not have taken epidural while giving birth to the kids,” Brittany wrote.

Brees missed four games due to injury. He threw 24 touchdown passes and was intercepted six times.

The Saints were knocked out of the playoffs Sunday by Tom Brady’s Buccaneers, and while there hasn’t been an official announcement, multiple reports said the 42-year-old Brees, who is the league’s all-time leader with 80,358 yards, will retire and join NBC’s football booth.

“After crying for a few days … I am so grateful for this year,” Brittany wrote. “Your 20th in the NFL my love. This has been the hardest year of our lives, yet in some ways one of the best.”

Brittany may have been alluding to her husband facing backlash in June for saying that “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country,” when asked about players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice.

Brees’ comments came as protests engulfed the country following the death of George Floyd, and they sparked outrage among professional athletes, including several of his teammates.

Brees, who in 2016 criticized Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem, later apologized.

Brittany wrote on Instagram at the time, in all caps, “We are the problem.”