Drew Brees, (born January 15, 1979, Dallas, Texas, U.S.), American gridiron football quarterback who was one of the most prolific passers in National Football League (NFL) history and set numerous single-season and career passing records, including the all-time marks for pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. He led the New Orleans Saints to the team’s first Super Bowl championship (2010).
Brees was a standout high-school soccer participant in Austin, Texas, main his workforce to a state title and taking Texas 5A (the division that options the state’s largest excessive faculties) Offensive Player of the Year honours in 1996. Considered too brief (standing 6 ft [1.83 metres] tall) and too weak-armed by the main school applications in his dwelling state, he attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Brees was a three-year starter at Purdue, the place he set faculty and Big Ten Conference information for nearly each main profession passing statistic, together with passing yards and touchdowns. In his senior season he led the Purdue Boilermakers to their first Rose Bowl berth in 34 years and completed third within the voting for the Heisman Trophy.
Brees was chosen by the San Diego Chargers with the primary decide of the second spherical of the 2001 NFL draft. He grew to become the workforce’s beginning quarterback in his second season, however he didn't shortly flip across the then-woeful Chargers and in his third yr misplaced taking part in time to 41-year-old Doug Flutie. When the Chargers acquired promising rookie quarterback Philip Rivers in 2004, it was assumed that Brees’s days in San Diego had been numbered. Brees, nevertheless, remained the Chargers’ beginning quarterback in the course of the 2004 season and led the workforce to a shocking 12–4 file en path to incomes the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award and Pro Bowl honours. He adopted this with a stable if unspectacular season in 2005, however a shoulder damage within the season finale made the Chargers cautious of signing him to a long-term contract, and Brees as a substitute signed a free agent cope with the Saints.
In his first yr in New Orleans, Brees reversed the fortunes of a workforce that had gone 3–13 the earlier season, main the Saints to a ten–6 file in 2006 and a berth within the National Football Conference (NFC) championship sport. While taking part in in head coach Sean Payton’s progressive offense, he led the league in passing yards that yr and was named first-team All-Pro for his efforts. In 2008 Brees threw for five,069 yards—15 fewer than Dan Marino’s single-season file—and was as soon as once more voted to the Pro Bowl. In 2009 Brees had one other Pro Bowl season and set an NFL file by finishing 70.6 p.c of his passes. More considerably, he led the Saints to a franchise-best 13–0 begin and the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth, a victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In the Super Bowl, Brees accomplished 32 passes (which tied Tom Brady’s Super Bowl file) for 288 yards and two touchdowns, and he was named the sport’s Most Valuable Player.
Brees once more led the Saints to the playoffs the next season, however the workforce was upset by a seven-win Seattle Seahawks squad within the opening spherical of the postseason. In 2011 Brees broke Marino’s single-season passing yardage file, ending the season with 5,476 yards via the air. (Peyton Manning surpassed Brees’s mark by one yard in 2013.) He additionally broke his personal league file for completion share (71.2), established an all-time NFL mark by passing for greater than 300 yards in 13 video games, and threw a personal-best 46 landing passes. In 2012 he broke Johnny Unitas’s file for many consecutive video games with a landing go when he threw for a rating in his forty eighth straight sport (his file in the end reached 54 video games), and he completed the yr with 5,177 passing yards and a league-high 43 touchdowns. In 2013 Brees threw for five,162 yards to notch his fourth profession 5,000-yard season (on the time, no different participant in NFL historical past had a couple of). He once more led the league in passing yardage (together with Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers) in 2014, with 4,952 yards, however the Saints had a disappointing season, going 7–9 in a weak division (all 4 NFC South groups completed the season with a dropping file) to overlook a playoff berth. Brees was the highest passer within the NFL in each of the next seasons, with 4,870 and 5,208 yards, respectively, however the Saints remained mired in mediocrity, with consecutive 7–9 campaigns.
In 2017 the Saints rode a resurgent operating sport to 11 wins and a division title, however Brees’s passing numbers suffered (his 4,334 yards that season had been the fewest in his time in New Orleans, though he did lead the NFL in go completions [72 percent]). The Saints had been notably eradicated within the playoffs when the Minnesota Vikings scored a shocking 61-yard game-winning landing as time expired within the groups’ divisional-round sport. Brees received his 2018 season off to a historic begin in September by setting the NFL customary for all-time go completions, breaking Brett Favre’s file of 6,300. The following month he surpassed Manning’s file of 71,940 profession passing yards. Brees completed the 2018 season with 3,992 passing yards and 32 touchdowns and set a brand new NFL file by finishing 74.4 p.c of his go makes an attempt. The Saints went 13–3 to earn the highest seed within the NFC playoffs, however their postseason resulted in heartbreak for a second straight yr. In the NFC championship sport, a badly missed penalty name prevented the Saints from doubtless clinching a victory in regulation time, and the workforce misplaced in additional time. Brees broke Manning’s file for profession landing passes (539) in December 2019, throughout a season through which the Saints tied two different groups for one of the best file within the NFC (13–3). However, tie-breakers compelled New Orleans to overlook out on a bye and as a substitute host a sport in the course of the opening postseason spherical, the place the workforce was upset by the Vikings.