One of the most prolific careers in NFL history has ended, while New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced on Instagram on Sunday that he decided 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 father will finally 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 that read:
“After 20 years as an NFL player and 15 years as a saint, it’s time to retire from football. Every day, I poured my heart and soul into being your defender. By the end, I was exhausted. to give everything we had to the Saints, my team, and the great city of New Orleans, and we shared some amazing moments together, many of which are adorned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us.
“You shaped me, strengthened me, inspired me and gave me a life of memories. My goal for the last 15 years has been to strive to give you everything you have given me and much more. I’m just retiring from the game of football. I’m not retiring from New Orleans. This is not a goodbye, but rather a new beginning. Now my real-life work begins! “
The 42-year-old Brees retires as the all-time NFL leader in career yards (80,358) and ranks second in all touchdown steps (571) and completion percentage (67.7%). Moreover, Brees will always be revered for helping to revive the Saints franchise and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when he and coach Sean Payton arrived together in 2006.
They led the Saints to the NFC championship game in that first year and won the only Super Bowl in franchise history three years later, with Brees named the game’s MVP.
Brees never returned to a second Super Bowl, despite leading the Saints to four consecutive NFC South titles in four years. His last game was a disappointing disappointment with 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 a huge void for the Saints to fill with either Taysom Hill, Jameis Winston, or a defender to be named later.
Brees’ legacy has long been assured as one of the greatest games of all time.
In addition to all the naughty numbers and historical achievements, Brees will also be remembered as a great story of all time. At just 6 meters tall, Brees was recruited by just two colleagues before a record career at Purdue. He fell in 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 tear and some damage to the rotator cuff, which required 12 anchors to be repaired. Renowned surgeon James Andrews later said that Brees’ recovery was the most remarkable of any athlete he had ever treated, and Brees returned to the field with the Saints in Week 1 of that unforgettable 2006 season.
Brees ended his career with a record of 172-114 as a starting defender in the regular season and 9-9 in the postseason. He was 142-86 and 9-8 in 15 years with the Saints, where his partnership with Payton produced some of the most spectacular offensive teams the game has ever seen.
Brees threw more than 5,000 meters in a season five times different – no other defender has done it more than once. He holds the first three percent completion of a single season in NFL history and six of the top nine.
Brees has been ranked among the top 10 NFL passers in ESPN’s Total QBR metrics in all 15 seasons since its inception in 2006; a series that is six years longer than any other defender at the time.
Although he never won an MVP award in the regular season, Brees finished the second record four times.
Brees said for a long time that he thought he could play at a high level until the age of 45 – as long as he wanted to continue playing. But since 2017, he has also said that he has started taking each season one year in a row – treating each one as if it could be his last – and that it will take some time after each season to reflect with his wife Brittany. and their children about whether he wanted to continue playing.
Brees had already lined up his “next chapter” last year, when he agreed to become an analyst for NBC after the end of his playing days.
After missing just one game due to injury in his first 18 seasons, Brees faced some significant injuries at the end of his career. In 2019, he missed five games after breaking a ligament in his thumb. In 2020, he missed four games after suffering a perforated lung and 11 broken ribs.
Retiring now, Brees paves the way for his 40-year-old colleague Brady to finish ahead of him in the two most prominent races in the NFL record book. Brady has 10 more TD passes in his career than Brees and needs 1,155 yards to overtake him.
Brees also leaves behind a significant $ 22.65 million hit that the Saints must account for over the next two years because of the way they have chosen to structure their past contracts. However, they have already reduced his salary from $ 25 million to the veteran minimum of $ 1,075 million this year, so he can wait until after June 1 to officially process his retirement. As a result, they could push $ 11.5 million of the remaining ceiling costs by 2022.
Brees will count $ 12,225 million against the ceiling this year through June 1. Then the payroll for 2021 will drop to $ 11.15 million after his retirement becomes official.
This is a big issue for the Saints, who have been more affected by the NFL’s low salary cap than perhaps any NFL team this year. They started off-season with nearly $ 100 million over the ceiling before cutting 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 headroom. Hill has received a four-year contract extension for $ 140 million – but all years are voidable and there is a ceiling release mechanism this year, a source for ESPN’s Adam Schefter said. . It saves the Saints more than $ 7.5 million from the ceiling this year, and its contract numbers this year include a $ 9.686 million signing bonus, a $ 1.439 million guaranteed list bonus, and a salary guaranteed base of $ 1.034 million plus incentives.
On a positive note, Brees leaves the Saints in a decent shape when it comes to backup options. Hill, who is under contract until 2021, remains unproven as a 30-year-old quarterback with double threat, with limited experience. However, he went 3-1 as a starter instead of Brees this season with four TD passes, four TD runs, two interceptions and three losses lost in that four-game stage.
Meanwhile, Winston is an unsigned free agent. But he chose to come to New Orleans last summer on a minimum contract so he could have a chance to study under Payton and Brees and eventually revive Brees’ successor career. And Payton recently said that the Saints want to re-sign him and allow him to compete for the starting position.
Although Payton chose Hill as Brees’ short-term replacement in 2020, he insisted the team has high potential for Winston. And Payton has repeatedly insisted that he believes “our next defender is in the building” – whether it’s Hill or Winston.