OPINION: My Case for Drew Brees as the GOAT

The world of sports superlatives is a never-ending debate. We see this everywhere--everyone wants there to be a greatest of all time and almost everyone picks a side. For basketball it is Jordan vs. LeBron, but when it comes to the gridiron, give me Drew Brees over Tom Brady.

 

Super Bowls

Sure, Tom has six Super Bowl rings and all of the GOAT stigma, but is he really the greatest to ever do it? Super Bowls matter, but that is merely a team stat. Look at how successful Tom’s defenses were the years that he has won, along with the names that he has had the opportunity to play with, names like Rob Gronkowski and Randy Moss to be exact. Drew Brees has never had the offensive players that Tom Brady has had. Brees made receivers like Michael Thomas, Marques Colston, and Kenny Stills studs, and really his only other big time target he has had to work with was Jimmy Graham. Brees and Brady both make other players great, but I feel like Drew has had more of an uphill battle in New Orleans.

 

Consistency

There have only been nine NFL seasons where a quarterback has thrown for 5,000 yards, and five of those seasons belong to Drew Brees. Brees also leads the NFL in passing yards, pass completions, and touchdown passes. Brees holds the record for highest career pass completion percentage, highest single season completion percentage, and most consecutive games with a touchdown pass. These records are a testament to Drew Brees being the best pure passer in the history of the NFL, and at 6-feet-tall, what more could you ask of the guy? He has overcome being undersized and has topped the NFL record books, along with coming back from a 1 in 500 shoulder injury that nearly cost him his career in 2005, yet he still gets overlooked in this GOAT debate.

 

Mishaps

I know it is hard to look at “could-have-beens”, but I believe that Drew Brees has a few worth mentioning. For starters, the Minneapolis Miracle during the 2018 playoffs should have never happened. Had that defender made the play, the Saints would have moved on to the NFC Championship against the Eagles, a game that Minnesota would get blown out in, 38-7. The following year, the Saints fell victim to another mishap in the conference championship against the Rams. NFL officials swallowed the whistle on a blatant pass interference call where the Ram’s Nickell Robey-Coleman smoked the Saints’ Tommylee Lewis on a play that changed the entirety of the game. Had the call been made, the Saints would have had a new set of downs within the Rams’ end zone with very little time remaining in the game. But this obviously didn’t happen, and the Rams go on to win the game in OT.

 

 

 

 

On February 18, 2020, Drew Brees announced that he would be returning to the Saints for the 2020 season. His caption read, “I look forward to the grind and the journey, for the reward at the end will be worth it!” This man obviously wants another Super Bowl ring because he wants the credibility that he has been neglected of for years. With Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas and running back Alvin Kamara in his corner, who knows what this man can do. If the defense plays well next season, I see no reason why the greatest quarterback to play the game can’t win another one.