Drew Brees

His helmet in his left hand and his team defeated, Drew Brees looked back into the Superdome one last time. Following the Saints’ 30-20 playoff loss to fellow 40-something quarterback Tom Brady’s Buccaneers on Jan. 17, 2021, Brees walked off the field toward the tunnel and turned. The final glance over his left shoulder revealed his appreciation—for his family, for the fans, for his faith, for the game of football—and the leave-it-all-on-the-field mentality that propelled him to a record-setting NFL career. He symbolically surveyed a past filled with overcoming injuries and other obstacles while he strode into a Pro Football Hall of Fame future in Canton, Ohio. The dwindling Superdome crowd, already thin because of Covid-19 safety protocols, ambled out. There would be no more football. It wasn’t the ending…

There’s something much more distinguishing about Drew Christopher Brees than the fuzzy mole on his right cheek, and it’s something that’s invisible to the naked eye. When he was born in Dallas on Jan. 15, 1979, he became part of an athletic family overflowing with competitive spirit. The birthmark was merely, “where an angel kissed you,” his mother Mina would say. Mina may have been the best athlete of the family. One of the first female students at Texas A&M, which was an all-male military school until 1965, she had been an all-state high school star in volleyball, track and basketball. Had she been born a few years later, Mina likely would have received numerous scholarship offers, but this was in the days before Title IX. While an Aggie in…

Whispers. That’s what Drew Brees heard from scouts about his NFL prospects. Whispers about whether he could see over the behemoths along an NFL line of scrimmage: He “does not possess the ideal height you look for in a pro passer.” Whispers about his arm strength: He “lacks accuracy and touch on his long throws.” Whispers about whether he was a “system quarterback,” who could succeed only in a spread offense: He “seems more comfortable in the short, intermediate passing attack.” Brees even heard whispers about his brash style of play: He “tends to run through defenders rather than trying to avoid them to prevent unnecessary punishment.” One scouting service graded Brees an F. “These are guys that know what they’re talking about,” the older, wiser and Super Bowl-ring possessing…

When the 2004 season ended, Drew Brees was due to become a free agent. He was coming off the best year of his career, and there would be many suitors. There was uncertainty whether—with Philip Rivers in the fold—Brees would remain in San Diego. However, on Feb. 17, 2005, despite having drafted Rivers the previous year, the Chargers designated Brees their franchise player. Other teams could still make Brees offers, but if they signed him, they would owe San Diego two first-round draft picks. It was a win-win situation for the Chargers. The team had a lot of talent, and Brees’ $8 million, one-year contract gave San Diego added security. Though Brees’ record as the starter was 21-22, including the playoffs, he wasn’t worried about his own job security. The…

All it took was one play. On Sept. 10, 2006, eight seconds into the Saints’ first game of the season, on Cleveland’s first play from scrimmage, Browns quarterback Charlie Frye threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to receiver Braylon Edwards. A year after Hurricane Katrina, a year after the Saints had to play their “home” games in San Antonio, Baton Rouge and even New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, and after six months of great expectations following the signing of Drew Brees, a rebuilding New Orleans craved something to cheer about. This was not it. A city desperately in need of rejuvenation collectively thought: Same old Aints. The touchdown, however, would not stand. It was called back because of a holding penalty. No play. Maybe things would be different for the Saints. Powered…

On Aug. 7, 2009, at the conclusion of a Saints training camp practice, Drew Brees wondered why his wife Brittany—holding their seven-month-old son Baylen—had been allowed into the closed-door session. New Orleans coach Sean Payton rarely permitted visitors, but Brittany had terrible news to share. Drew’s mother Mina, the woman who believed the fuzzy birthmark on her son’s cheek meant he had been touched by angel, went with the angels. The 59-year-old lawyer was found dead at the home of a friend in a small Colorado town near Rocky Mountain National Park. At the time, the cause of death was unknown. Drew sat down in Payton’s office and talked. Payton and Brees had quickly developed an easygoing coach-star player relationship. The relationship Brees had with his mother, meanwhile, had been…