New Orleans (USA), March 14 (EFE) .- The quarterback Drew Brees, who played the last 15 seasons with the New Orleans Saints, announced this Sunday through his Instagram page the end point to his 20-year career in the National Football League (NFL).
The news was delivered by Brees a day after his 15-year relationship with the Saints. He was previously a member of the San Diego Chargers.
In an emotional message, Brees said that he always gave everything on the field for the Saints.
“I’m just retiring from soccer, I’m not retiring from New Orleans. This is not goodbye, but a new beginning. Now my real life work begins!”
The quarterback posted a video of his sons announcing that their father now “is going to spend more time” with them-
The Chargers selected Brees in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft. He played a game that season after spending most of it as a backup to Doug Flutie.
His successful relationship with the Chargers began in 2002, when he won the starting job. But in the 2006 season he needed surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. Reports said at the time that he also had rotator cuff damage.
The quarterback reached free agency and received a five-year offer from the Chargers, who did not increase his terms while the Saints and Miami Dolphins offered him more money.
The Dolphins, who were coached by Nick Saban at the time, were interested, but withdrew from the negotiating table over concerns about Brees’ injury and the team chose to trade Daunte Culpepper instead.
Culpepper only played four games for Miami that season, and Saban would later leave the NFL to coach in Alabama and become one of the best college football coaches of all time.
Brees chose to sign with the Saints and was an All-Pro quarterback and a Pro Bowler in his first season with them.
During the 2009 season, Brees led the Saints to Super Bowl XLIV and defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. Brees completed 32 of 39 with 288 passing yards and had two touchdown passes in the main game. Brees was named Super Bowl MVP.
Despite leading the team’s offenses year after year, Brees and the Saints would not return to the Super Bowl. The Saints suffered countless heartaches in the playoffs, including at the 2018 National Conference Championship (NFC), where a failed defensive pass interference call changed the game and allowed the Los Angeles Rams to reach the Super Bowl.
Brees is seen as a clear member of the Hall of Fame when his name first enters the list of candidates to be voted into the holy place in Canton, Ohio.
The former Saints quarterback finishes his career first in passing yards (80,358), second in passing touchdowns (571), fifth in passer rating (98.7), second in completion percentage (68%) and third in comebacks in the fourth period (36).
His last game as a professional was the one that the Saints played on January 17 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, of quarterback Tom Brady, in the NFC divisional round and that they lost in their field of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome by 20 -30.
As soon as the game ended, Brees, accompanied by his family, met with Brady in what was already seen as the clearest sign that his days in the NFL had come to an end and only the official confirmation was missing, which he did this Sunday.
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