Drew Brees' Final Battle Against his Old Team?
20 years ago, the San Diego Chargers used the 32nd pick of the 2001 NFL draft on an undersized quarterback from Purdue, Drew Brees.
Brees has battled the Chargers three times since joining the Saints in 2006. He is 3-0 in those previous matchups by completing 67.21% of his passes for 916 yards, 9 TDs, and 3 INTs. It was a primetime visit from the Chargers where he broke Johnny Unitas' 47-game touchdown passing streak record. The last regular-season matchup between the teams came in 2016, when the Saints squeaked-out a 35-34 victory in San Diego.
The future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback spent his first five years in the NFL with the Chargers. He started 58 of 59 games, completed 62.2% of his passes for 12,348 yards and 80 touchdowns.
It has been 15 seasons since Drew Brees last suited up for the Chargers franchise, a team he hoped to be the franchise quarterback for his entire career. Monday night, the future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback battles against the franchise that drafted him for likely the final time.
This week, Brees reflected on his time in San Diego, saying, “[It's] hard to believe that that was 15 years ago.” The 6'0 quarterback from Austin, TX area, played his final snap for the Bolts in 2005. It was a play that led to severe injury and uncertainty of continuing his NFL career for Brees.
On December 31, 2005, Week 17, the Chargers, who were already eliminated from playoff contention, battled their division rivals, the Denver Broncos, at home. Standing at his goal line, Brees surveyed the field before being hit from his blindside. The ball fell to the turf, fumble. Brees quickly located the football to his right, bouncing at the one-yard line. He sprinted right, then left his feet and dove headfirst to recover the football with his right arm out-stretched... and in that split second, Brees' career changed forever. Unknowingly for New Orleans, it was just the beginning.
Brees' injury was more complex than the average dislocated shoulder. His dislocation occurs in roughly one in every five hundred. The quarterback suffered a dislocated shoulder through the bottom of the joint. Amid the football scrum, he sustained a 360-degree tear of his labrum and a 50-percent tear of his rotator cuff.
The injury came in the final year of Brees' contract, making him an unrestricted free agent and signing with any team in the league. San Diego did not pursue the opportunity to bring Brees back, having drafted NC State QB, Phillip Rivers, just the year prior. The Charger's decision to draft Rivers is one that Brees called “the worst f--king mistake this organization could ever make.” back in 2004 while he was still the team's starting field general. The selection of Rivers was the beginning of the end for Brees' time in San Diego, but the injury was the final nail in the coffin.
Following the injury, Brees flew to Alabama to meet with Dr. James Andrews, who would perform the surgery. Andrews put eleven anchors in the labrum and two into Brees' the rotator cuff. “If I did that surgery 100 times, I couldn’t do it as well as I just did, I did my job. Now it's on you.” Andrews told Brees following the procedure. Brees “did his job” a few months later, signing a six-year, $60M with the New Orleans Saints ahead of the 2006 NFL season.
15-years post-surgery, Brees became the franchise quarterback he hoped to become in San Diego, just in New Orleans. Since joining the Saints, the 13x Pro-Bowl selection has broken numerous NFL records, become the NFL's All-Time Leader in passing yards and TDs, and won a Super Bowl championship.
"It's just part of the journey. When I was drafted by the Chargers back in '01, it was my hope, my plan to be the franchise quarterback there for my whole career and obviously, that didn't happen. And that was for a reason. There was some divine intervention there I believe, and it brought me here, probably then, one of the last places that I ever thought I would end up, in New Orleans and with the Saints."
Drew Brees on playing the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night
The Los Angeles Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints game will be a Monday Night Football contest on ESPN. Kickoff will take place at 7:15 PM CST at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints will wear Black jerseys and Black pants in the game.
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