The final five years of Drew Brees’ career were better than most quarterbacks’ entire careers.
Matthew Stafford recently appeared on the Green Light Podcast, hosted by Chris Long. During the interview, Stafford shared a conversation he had with Drew Brees before last season. Stafford said Brees told him that his next five years could be the best of his career.
NFL Live later shared the clip on its show, and as it was wrapping up, one of the commentators said, “Sounds good, but Drew Brees didn’t actually
have five more great years after that age.”
The age they were referring to was Stafford’s current age of 37.
That statement is a perfect example of someone talking just to talk instead of actually knowing the player they’re discussing.
At age 37, during the 2016 season, Brees finished with 5,208 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and a 70.0% completion percentage. He led the NFL in both passing yards and passing touchdowns.
In 2017, at age 38, he broke his own NFL single-season completion percentage record by finishing at 72.0%. He also led the Saints to an 11-5 record while throwing for 4,334 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions.
In 2018, Brees broke the single-season completion percentage record once again, raising it to 74.4%. He led the Saints to the NFC Championship Game, where they were one missed pass interference call away from what likely would have been his second Super Bowl appearance. He finished the season with 3,992 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and only five interceptions.
In 2019, Brees finished second only to himself in completion percentage, posting a remarkable 74.3%. Although he missed five games with a thumb injury, the Saints still finished 13-3, and Brees threw for 2,979 yards, 27 touchdowns, and only four interceptions.
In his final season in 2020, Brees missed four games but still completed 70.5% of his passes while throwing for 2,942 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Not to mention, during each of those five seasons (2016-2020), Brees posted passer ratings of 101.7, 103.9, 115.7, 116.3, and 106.4.
Over the final five years of his career, Drew Brees totaled 19,455 passing yards, 143 touchdowns, and an average passer rating of 108.8.
Drew Brees’ final five seasons would constitute a career that most NFL quarterbacks could only dream of having.
While the Saints have had their struggles in recent years, we should never question the leadership or the level of play that No. 9 displayed every time he put on the helmet and ran out of the tunnel.
