Drew Brees

                                PASSING                            RUSHING                 FANTASY

(+) Drew Brees led all players in fantasy points in 2011 with 417.6 while averaging 26.1 points a game - AWOW!

(+) With Sean Payton suspended for the season, Brees is essentially the head coach and offensive coordinator rolled into one 

(+) Drew shattered Dan Marino's 27-year old passing yards in a season record last season putting up an unbelievable 5,476 yards, so age doesn't seem to be affecting his arm

(+) Drew Brees has the best TE in the game to throw to in Jimmy Graham

(+) Darren Sproles gives Brees a one-of-a-kind talent out of the backfield to dump the ball off to

(+) Brees has been the most accurate QB in the league since 2004 (67.2% completion percentage)

(+) Drew threw for 46 TDs last year, most in the league and the fourth-most ever in a single season

(+) Like Aaron Rodgers, Drew seems to have to win every game with his arm resulting in stats-a-plenty

(+) Brees hasn’t finished outside the top-10 in fantasy points since 2003 or outside the top-5 since 2006

(+) Brees has thrown for 4,388 yards or more in each of the past six seasons

(–) All-Pro guard Carl Nicks signed with the Buccaneers 

(–) With Bounty Gate in the air, hopefully no one tries to knock the Saints star QB out with an injury for payback

(–) Since winning the Super Bowl three years ago, Brees and the Saints seem to have had a bulls-eye on their back

(–) The backfield can't seem to get into a solid groove and Mark Ingram showed nothing to think that will change in 2012

Throughout the entire 2009 season, it seemed as if The Big Easy was emanating some sort of impervious, golden hue.  It was as if the “City that Care Forgot” was drenched in the elixir of the Gods.  Nothing could penetrate it; nothing could invalidate its colossal spirit, least of all one man… Drew Brees.  The man could do no wrong.  Sure, his Saints fell to their final three opponents of the regular season, ending up with a mere 13-3 record, but there was no doubt that “Cool Brees” would carry the team through to a Super Bowl victory.  A fellow colleague of his, Tom “Stetson Man” Brady, may have accomplished a certain perfection the NFL had never seen before back in 2007, but I’ll bet you a bowl of jambalaya Mr. Bundchen would give his left nut right now for that extra Super Bowl ring.  Luckily, Cool Brees made sure that he and his band of steady Saints don’t have to contemplate that sort of sacrifice.

~ Set career bests in regular season wins (13), completion percentage (70.6), yards/attempt (8.5), and QB Rating (109.6)

~ Tied career bests in passing touchdowns with 34 (2008) and rushing touchdowns with 2 (2004)

~ Set New Orleans franchise records with a 109.6 QB Rating and a 70.6% completion percentage

~ Tied his own New Orleans franchise record with 34 passing touchdowns

~ His 32 completions in Super Bowl XLIV tied him for the most completions in Super Bowl history (Tom Brady, SB XXXVIII)

~ His 82.1% completion percentage (32 of 39) in Super Bowl XLIV was the second best completion percentage in Super Bowl history (Phil Simms, SB XXI, 22 of 25, 88.0%)

There should be no reason in the world to think that Cool Brees won’t end up among the Top-3 fantasy quarterbacks again in 2010.  His top three receivers are all still under contract, as is his tight end, Jeremy Shockey (we believe that's a good thing).  Both of his best running backs, Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush, seem to be staying as well.  With the whirlwind success the offensive scheme has had over the past few years, there’s no chance that will change either.  Expect another 30+ TD, 4,000+ yard season out of Hurricane Drew (he might have more nicknames than touchdowns) and draft the 31-year old stud with confidence.

If that's not enough to convince you, here's some more info from his surrounding unit that will make you drool:

~ Robert Meachem was just coming into his own in 2009 and should improve upon his numbers

~ The offensive line is solid and should stay intact for another year

~ Even though they won the Super Bowl, their schedule doesn’t look to be any tougher than last year

~ The cheerleaders are smokin

The numbers above don’t tell the whole story.  In fact, the only thing the above graphic shows are that we can do third grade math and that Drew Brees fell a third-and-long completion short of breaking Marino’s 24-year-old single-season passing record.  However, were it not for a torn labrum in his shoulder on the last day of 2005, he might not even have had this chance.           

You see, Brees was a Charger for the first half of his career.  And as a Charger, he had a certain running back out of TCU to rely on.  In his four years as a starter in San Diego (2002-2006, he was drafted in 2001 following the whole Ryan Leaf debacle), he made the Pro Bowl once, but never had more than 3,500 passing yards or 500 passing attempts in a season.  He did, however, throw 27 touchdowns on only 400 attempts in 2004 (his Pro Bowl year), recording an astounding 6.8 touchdown percentage.

Yet, Brees failed to make the playoffs in his first two years, so the Chargers panicked and drafted Eli Manning (aka Philip Rivers, another whole different story).  They franchise-tagged Brees in 2005, a year that was set to run out when they came to play their meaningless Week-17 game against the Giants on New Years’ Eve.  After the game, the Chargers would be faced with a decision:  Keep Brees, or let him go and invest in Rivers.  Well, the decision was made for them when Brees tried to recover his own fumble in the end zone but was flattened instead, crushing his shoulder in the process.

The rest is history as they say.  In his four years as a starter in New Orleans, he has yet to attempt under 500 passes in a season and has led the league in passing yards and touchdowns twice... And there is no sign of that slowing down. 

Drew Brees (@drewbrees) can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/drewbrees

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Buy Drew Brees' new book at Amazon.com, by clicking here.

Drew Brees is on the cover of Madden 11. Pre-order from Amazon now!

Drew enters the 5^th year of a $60 million contract.  $20 million of it was guaranteed and the rest is below.  We don't feel this should be a factor when evaluating Drew's ranking in the least:

2010 - $9.8 million

2011 - $9.8 million

2012 - Free Agent

Given how much the Saints love to pass, Chase Daniel would be a nice late-round handcuff to grab if you have Brees

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• Major Off-Season Moves


• 2010 NFL Draft

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"In my mind, I feel like I'm going to come back better than ever after this deal and I don't even want to call it a setback. I think it's an opportunity for me to just get going a little bit earlier than expected rehabbing and working out and to make sure when I come back I'm better than I was when I went in.''- Drew Brees (January 2006)