Drew Brees
is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He had a successful college football career at Purdue University, becoming one of the most decorated players in Purdue and Big Ten Conference history. Brees set two NCAA records, 13 Big Ten Conference records, and 19 Purdue University records during his college career. He remains the Big Ten record-holder in several passing categories, including completions (1,026), attempts (1,678), and yards (11,792). Brees was chosen by the San Diego Chargers with the first pick in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. Brees earned the starting job with the Chargers in 2002 and made the Pro Bowl in 2004. Nine months after suffering a dislocation in his right shoulder joint and a tear of the labrum and rotator cuff, Brees signed with the Saints as a free agent in 2006. He experienced immediate success in New Orleans, leading the Saints to their first-ever Super Bowl in Super Bowl XLIV and helping the team to a 31–17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Since joining the Saints, Brees has led all NFL quarterbacks in touchdowns, passing yards, and 300-yard games. Brees holds NFL records for career pass completions, career completion percentage, career passing yards, and career touchdown passes. He is also second in regular season career pass attempts, third in regular season career passer rating and fourth in postseason career passer rating. In 2012, he broke Johnny Unitas' long-standing record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass. He has led the NFL in passing yards a record seven times and in passing touchdowns a record-tying four times. Brees has made the Pro Bowl 13 times, was the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2004, was the Offensive Player of the Year in 2008 and 2011, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV. Sports Illustrated named Brees its 2010 Sportsman of the Year. Brees is regarded as one of the best pure passers in the NFL's history, and has been hailed as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time
Drew Christopher Brees was born on January 15, 1979 in Dallas to Eugene Wilson "Chip" Brees II, a prominent trial lawyer, and Mina Ruth (née Akins; died 2009), an attorney. His grandfather fought in the Battle of Okinawa. A Sports Illustrated article stated he was named for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson but in a 2014 interview Brees said this story was "just legend". He has a younger brother, Reid (born 1981). When Brees was seven, his parents divorced and shared custody of the boys, who split their time between both parents' homes. Today, he admits that it was a very tough and challenging life after the divorce; however, Brees and his younger brother, Reid, supported each other and became very close. They have a younger half-sister, Audrey, from their father's remarriage to Amy Hightower, daughter of the late U.S. Representative (D-TX) Jack English Hightower.
Both of Brees' parents had athletic backgrounds. His father played basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team, and his mother was a former all-state in three sports in high school. His maternal uncle, Marty Akins, was an All-American starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns college football team from 1975 to 1977 and his maternal grandfather, Ray Akins, had the third-most victories as a Texas high school football coach in his three decades at Gregory-Portland High School. His younger brother, Reid, was an outfielder for the Baylor Bears baseball team, which made the 2005 College World Series and now resides in Colorado, where he works in sales.
Brees did not play tackle football until high school and was on the flag football team at St. Andrew's Episcopal School, where his teammates included actor Ben McKenzie, who was in the same year. In high school, he was a varsity letterman in baseball, basketball and football and was considering playing college baseball rather than football. College recruiters quickly ran after Brees blew out his knee in the 11th grade. After overcoming an ACL tear during his junior year he was selected as Texas High School 5A Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1996 and led the Westlake High School football team to 16–0 record and state championship. As a high school football player, Brees completed 314 of 490 passes (64.1 percent) for 5,461 yards with 50 touchdowns including, in his senior season, 211 of 333 passes (63.4 percent) for 3,528 yards with 31 touchdowns. Westlake went 28–0–1 when Brees started for two seasons and beat a Dominic Rhodes-led Abilene Cooper 55–15 in the 1996 title game. He was given honorable mention in the state high school all-star football team and the USA Today All-USA high school football team alongside former San Diego Chargers teammate and long-time friend LaDainian Tomlinson. Brees had hoped to follow his father and uncle's footsteps and play for the Texas Longhorns or Texas A&M Aggies but was not heavily recruited despite his stellar record
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