Drew Brees - The Real Record Breaking Story

Tonight on Monday Night Football, New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees will most likely set the all-time NFL record for career passing yards. This from a player whose career was in jeopardy after four great years with the San Diego Chargers due to a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his throwing arm. A player who always fought off the perception of not being tall enough, who only had two college scholarship offers. He stayed at Purdue instead of entering the draft to complete his degree in industrial management and was drafted in the second round behind Michael Vick.
 
Brees signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina. In April 2006, the Saints, like their city, were a mess. They were coming off the 3-13 debacle of the previous season (spent in San Antonio because of the relocation brought by the storm).

The Saints fired Jim Haslett as coach and hired Sean Payton. The rebuilding job was massive. Payton and GM Mickey Loomis signed Drew Brees to be their quarterback, but he was coming off major shoulder surgery. There was no guarantee the shoulder would heal. Behind the scenes, commissioner Paul Tagliabue was working to make sure the Saints didn’t leave town and permanently relocate to San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina.

In comes Drew Brees - the Saints go 10-6 during the 2006 season, a turnaround that is credited with forcing the hand of Saint’s ownership to stay in New Orleans. To their credit, they continued to build around Brees and went on to win Super Bowl XLIV. In one decade the Saints came from the “Aints” to “Who Dat?” and the city went from “Underwater” to “Over the Top."
 
Tom Benson’s generosity and appreciation continued with a donation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and today, Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium stands as one of the finest sports entertainment venues. That brings us to tonight, which would be a fitting chapter, with maybe one more remaining if and when Canton comes calling for Drew Brees.
 
Or is it the last chapter or the best one yet? Think of this, a professional football player becomes the heart and soul of a city and a region because he used their love and adoration and gave it back to a city that he never grew up in, never went to college and could leave after his playing days but said he wouldn’t. 

Could a city’s mayor do this? Yes, but that is what he is paid to do. Not Drew Brees. His foundation that has raised $25 million dollars. He has committed his family and his life to stay. He has used the game of Football as a way to better the lives of millions.

Brees will add to his story when he hands off his record-breaking football to Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker, preserving the history and promoting the values of the game.