Drew Brees

Drew Christopher Brees (born January 15, 1979) is a former American professional football quarterback who spent 20 seasons in the NFL. He is best known for his long tenure with the New Orleans Saints, and ranks second all-time in career passing yards, touchdown passes, and pass completions, as well as third in career completion percentage. Brees also owns the record for the most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, a mark that had stood for 52 years under Johnny Unitas. He is widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in history.

Brees played college football at Purdue, where he won the Maxwell Award and was named Big Ten Most Valuable Player in 2000, while setting conference records for completions, attempts, and yards. Concerns about his height and arm strength caused him to fall to the second round of the 2001 NFL draft, where he was selected by the San Diego Chargers. After an uneven start, he broke out in 2004, leading the Chargers to their first playoff appearance since 1995 and their first division title since 1994, earning Pro Bowl and Comeback Player of the Year honors. The following year, he suffered a serious injury that threatened his career, and he left the Chargers as a free agent.

When Brees joined the Saints, he transformed a franchise that had managed only seven winning seasons, five playoff appearances, and one postseason win in the 39 years before his arrival. From 2006 to 2020, he guided New Orleans to seven division titles—including four straight from 2017 to 2020—nine playoff appearances, nine playoff victories, three NFC Championship Game appearances, and the team’s first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XLIV, earning Super Bowl MVP honors.

Over his 15 seasons with the Saints, he was twice named Offensive Player of the Year, extended his Pro Bowl selections to 13, and earned one first-team All-Pro nod. He led the league in passing yards a record seven times. Brees retired after the 2020 season and spent the following year as an analyst on NBC Sunday Night Football. He also served as an interim assistant football coach at Purdue in 2022. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.

Early life Brees was born on January 15, 1979, in Dallas, Texas, 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 claimed he was named for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Drew Pearson, but Brees said in a 2014 interview that 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 homes. He has said it was a very tough and challenging life after the divorce, but he and Reid supported each other and grew very close. They also have a younger half-sister, Audrey, from their father’s remarriage to Amy Hightower, daughter of the late U.S. Representative Jack English Hightower. Brees was raised Baptist.

Both of Brees’s parents had athletic backgrounds. His father played basketball at Texas A&M, and his mother was a former all-state athlete in three sports in high school. His maternal uncle, Marty Akins, was an All-American starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns from 1972 to 1975, and his maternal grandfather, Ray Akins, had the third-most victories as a Texas high school football coach over 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; Reid now lives in Colorado and works in sales.

After moving to the Austin area, Brees did not play tackle football until high school, instead playing flag football at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, where his teammates included actor Ben McKenzie. In high school, he lettered in baseball, basketball, and football, and considered playing college baseball instead of football. College recruiters lost interest after Brees tore his ACL in the 11th grade. After recovering, he was named Texas High School 5A Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1996 and led Austin Westlake High School to a 16–0 record and a state championship.

As a high school quarterback, he completed 314 of 490 passes (64.1 percent) for 5,461 yards and 50 touchdowns, including 211 of 333 passes (63.4 percent) for 3,528 yards and 31 touchdowns in his senior season. Over his two seasons as a starter, Westlake went 28–0–1 and beat a Dominic Rhodes-led Abilene Cooper 55–15 in the 1996 title game. He received honorable mention on the state high school all-star team and the USA Today All-USA high school football team, alongside future San Diego Chargers teammate and longtime friend LaDainian Tomlinson. Brees hoped to follow his father and uncle to Texas or Texas A&M, but was not heavily recruited despite his record.

College career Brees received offers from only two colleges, Purdue and Kentucky, and chose Purdue for its strong academics. He graduated in 2001 with a degree in industrial management and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After a quiet freshman season, he earned his first start as a sophomore under head coach Joe Tiller and became a key part of Tiller and Jim Chaney’s unorthodox "basketball on grass" spread offense, serving as offensive captain in his junior and senior years. In a 1998 game against Wisconsin, Brees tied an NCAA single-game record with 55 completions and set the NCAA record for pass attempts in a single game with 83. He finished the 31–24 loss with 494 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions.