By Emily A. Dougherty
Drew Brees, best known as the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, has caused a great deal of speculation around the idea of him retiring now that the season has ended.
In the NFC divisional playoff round, the Saints lost to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, preventing Brees from pursuing another Super Bowl run and add to his legacy as one of the greatest and most successful quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL.
Brees has continued to be adored by his fans for all 20 years of his NFL career. “To be able to play for 20 years, in a league that is as physically demanding as the NFL, while being able to continuously put-up pro-bowl numbers is a pretty incredible feat to accomplish,” Ben Blaylock of Seminole County.
A football-loving father-daughter duo, Donald and Erin Dougherty of Seminole County, loved spending their free time watching Brees become an amazing quarterback.
“It’s an amazing achievement
to be the all-time leader of the
forward pass with 80,157 yards,”
Donald said. “Along with football,
Drew Brees does amazing charity
work, he created the Brees Dream
Foundation, to help improve the
lives of many people in need,” Erin
pointed out.
The Dallas-born player got his ambitious football career kicked off while playing as Purdue Universi- ty’s quarterback.
He had the opportunity to be drafted in the 2000 NFL draft, but decided to finish school to obtain his degree in Industrial Management. Brees, a member of Sigma Chi, played until he graduated from Purdue in 2001.
The then San Diego Chargers (now known as the Los Angeles Chargers) drafted him in the second round as the 32nd pick.
He originally was predicted to be
selected in the first round, but due to his height and other measurements, teams passed on the quarterback because of doubts of his ability to perform well in the NFL.
After five years with the Chargers, Brees was traded over to the Saints.
His six-year, $60 million deal was one he could not resist.
According to the statistics on the Saints website, Brees has had quite an impressive career.
In his recent and possibly last 2020 season, he had 24 touchdown passes, 2,942 yards, six interceptions and a quarterback rating of 106.4.
One of his most impressive seasons was 2011.
In this record-breaking year, he
earned the “triple crown.” be-
ing top in passing yards, passing
touchdowns and in completion
percentage.
