One of the most prolific careers in NFL history came to an end when New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced on Instagram on Sunday that he was deciding to retire after 20 seasons.
Brees’ four children announced in a video: “After 15 years with the Saints and 20 years in the NFL, our dad is finally going to retire. So he can spend more time with us! Yes !!” said his children Baylen, Bowen, Callen and Rylen.
Brees added a message to the post which reads:
“After 20 years as a player in the NFL and 15 years as a Saint, it’s time for me to retire from football. Every day I poured my heart and soul to be your Quarterback. Until the end, I exhausted myself. To all I had to give to the Saints organization, my team and the great city of New Orleans.We shared incredible moments together, many of which are divided in our hearts and minds and will be a part of us forever.
“You shaped, strengthened, inspired me and gave me lifelong memories. My goal for the last 15 years has been to give everything you have given me and more to you. I’m just stepping back to play football, I’m stepping not from New Orleans. It’s not goodbye, rather a new beginning. Now my real life work begins! “
Brees (42) retires as the NFL’s leading career leader (80,358) and ranks second all-time (571) and completion percentage (67.7%). But more than that, Brees will always be revered for reviving the Saints franchise and the city of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when he and coach Sean Payton arrived together in 2006.
They led the Saints to the NFC Championship in the first year and three years later won the only Super Bowl in franchise history, with Brees named the game’s MVP.
Brees never returned to a second Super Bowl, despite leading the Saints to four straight NFC South titles over the past four years. His last game was a disappointing 30-20 loss to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the playoffs – the first time he threw three interceptions in a playoff game.
His decision to retire leaves the Saints a huge void to fill with Taysom Hill, Jameis Winston or a quarterback named later.
Brees’ legacy has long been assured as one of the game’s greatest players.
On top of that, Brees will also be remembered as a wonderful story of all time. Brees is only 6 feet tall and was recruited by only two colleges before a record career at Purdue. He fell into the second round of the draft in 2001, where he began his career with the San Diego Chargers.
In his last game with the Chargers in 2005, Brees suffered a devastating shoulder injury – a 360-degree labrum tear and some rotator cuff damage, which required 12 anchors to repair. Well-known surgeon James Andrews later said Brees’ recovery was the most remarkable of any athlete he had ever treated, and Brees was back on the field with the Saints in Week 1 of that memorable 2006 season.
Brees ended his career with a record of 172-114 as a starting quarterback in the regular season and 9-9 in the post-season. He was 142-86 and 9-8 in 15 years with the Saints, where his partnership with Payton yielded some of the most spectacular attacking teams the game has ever seen.
Brees threw more than 5,000 yards in a season five different times – no other quarter has done it more than once. He has the top three percentages for completing the single season in NFL history and six of the top nine.
Brees has been ranked among the NFL’s top 10 passengers in the total QBR rating of ESPN in all 15 seasons since its creation in 2006; a series that is six years longer than that of any other quarterback in that team.
Although he never won an MVP award for the regular season, Brees set a record four times.
Brees has long said that he believes he can play at a high level until the age of 45 – as long as he wants to keep playing. But from 2017 onwards, he also said that he would start taking one year at a time each season – to treat each one as if it could be his last – and that he would take some time after each season to work with wife Brittany and their children to think about whether he wants to keep playing.
Brees had already drafted his ‘next chapter’ last year, when he agreed to become an analyst for NBC after his playing days were over.
After missing just one game in his first 18 seasons due to injury, Brees suffered serious injuries late in his career. In 2019, he missed five games after tearing a ligament in his thumb. In 2020, he missed four games after having a punctured lung and 11 broken ribs.
By retiring now, Brees paves the way for his 40-year-old Brady to finish ahead of him in their two most prominent NFL record book races. Brady has ten more careers for TD than Brees, and he needs 1,155 passers-by to surpass Brees.
Brees also leaves a substantial salary cap of $ 22.65 million for which the Saints will have to account for the next two years because of the way they have chosen to structure its previous contracts. However, they have already reduced his salary from $ 25 million to the veteran minimum of $ 1,075 million this year, so that they can wait until after June 1 to officially process his retirement. As a result, they could push $ 11.5 million of its remaining cap costs into 2022.
Brees will count $ 12,255 million against the year-long amount by June 1. Then his capital cost will drop to $ 11.15 million from 2021 after his retirement becomes official.
This is a big deal for the Saints, who have been more affected by the NFL’s reduced salary cap than perhaps any team in the NFL this year. They started the off-season nearly $ 100 million over the limit before reducing Brees’ salary and releasing veterans such as Emmanuel Sanders, Janoris Jenkins, Kwon Alexander and Thomas Morstead, among others.
The Saints also restructured Hill’s contract to create a hood room. Hill has received a $ 140 million four-year contract extension – but all years are void and it’s a mechanism to free up space this year, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. That saves the Saints more than $ 7.5 million against the hood this year, and its contract numbers this year include a $ 9.686 million signing bonus, a $ 1.439 million guaranteed roster bonus and a guaranteed base salary of $ 1.034 million plus incentives.
On a positive note, Brees leaves the Saints in a decent state when it comes to backup options. Hill, who is under contract until 2021, remains unproven as a 30-year-old double threat quarterback with limited experience. However, he passed 3-1 as a starter in place of Brees this season with four TD passes, four TD runs, two interceptions and three losing fumbles in the four-game battle.
Winston, meanwhile, is a free agent with no sign. But he chose to come to New Orleans on a minimal contract last summer so that he would have the chance to learn under Payton and Brees and possibly revive his career as Brees’ successor. And Payton recently made it clear that the Saints want to sign him again and let him compete for the starting position.
Although Payton chose Hill as Brees’ replacement in the short term in 2020, he insisted the team is high on Winston’s potential. And Payton has repeatedly insisted he believes “our next quarterback in the building” – whether it be Hill or Winston.