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Just before the start of NFL free agency, a legendary quarterback is walking away from the game.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced his retirement after 20 seasons in the league.
The official announcement on IG from Drew Brees: pic.twitter.com/NW2NJgZzx7
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2021
Brees finishes his career with a 67.7 completion percentage for 80,358 yards, 571 touchdowns and 243 interceptions. He walks away as the all-time leader in passing yards and ranks second in touchdown passes behind only Tom Brady.
The highlight of Brees’ career came during the 2009 season when he led the Saints to a Super Bowl victory over the favored Indianapolis Colts.
The San Francisco 49ers played some memorable games against New Orleans during Brees’ tenure. The 2011 Divisional Round matchup remains one of the best games in NFL history.
The 49ers and Saints also played a trio of regular season games that came down to the wire in recent history. New Orleans squeaked by San Francisco 23-20 during the 2013 season on a controversial call that cost the Niners dearly in the standings.
During the 2014 season, Colin Kaepernick’s cross-body heave to Michael Crabtree held set up Phil Dawson’s game-tying field goal. The Niners took advantage of a New Orleans fumble in overtime and escaped with a 27-24 win.
The 2019 season saw the two teams play another thriller. Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns in San Francisco’s 48-46 win that was highlighted by George Kittle’s ridiculous catch-and-run which set up Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal as time expired.
Brees will surely get into the Hall of Fame for all of his accomplishments. It’s too bad we won’t get to see another barn-burner between the Saints and Niners with him on the field.
It looks like New Orleans will go with Taysom Hill as its starting QB next season.
Saints are restructuring QB Taysom Hill’s contract to create cap room. Details are great: it’s a 4-year, $140 million contract extension - but all years are voidable and it’s a mechanism to free up cap space this year, per source. It saves Saints over $7.5M against cap this year.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2021
Elsewhere in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers re-signed running back Aaron Jones to a four-year deal worth $48 million. The 26-year-old ran for 1,104 yards and nine scores last season, helping the Packers make it to the NFC Championship Game.