Drew Brees: Human highlight reel

There is a Drew Brees jersey hanging in the rafters at the The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

If you watch the program and wait for the camera to pan to Ellen’s in-show DJ Twitch’s head, you will see the New Orleans Saints No. 9 jersey high on the wall behind him. Ellen is a New Orleans native. Brees is a New Orleans hero. But before we dive completely into why it’s important to view Brees more humanitarian than NFL quarterback, we need a quick history lesson.

Brees was first a San Diego Charger, drafted in 2001. It’s rare for someone, especially in the NFL, to have such longevity, but Brees has. Fast forward to Monday night.

Ahead of the Saints hosting the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football, the two teams held hands and formed a circle in the middle of the field as a sign of unity amidst the growing social unrest in the country. This brings us back to Brees the human.

In weeks prior, when Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest first began, Brees said, “It’s not that I disagreed with the protest. In fact, I agree; it’s very valid. … But, what I disagreed with was the method by which he chose to protest, which is to sit down and disrespect the flag of the United States of America.” Brees worked together with his teammates and opponents to come up with a way to make a powerful statement for good. Instead of remaining silent, he chose to hold their hands.

This is what Brees has done throughout his football career with his reaching platform, which grew significantly when Brees left San Diego for New Orleans in March 2006. He has made a secondary career in making people feel better and making people’s lives better.

Sound like somebody else’s career—like Ellen? And now we’ve come full-circle.

Let’s just list off all of the awards Brees has earned: nine Pro Bowls, the 2004 Comeback Player of the Year, the 2006 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, Super Bowl XLIV Champion and MVP.

Then there’s what represents the core of who he is: his Brees Dream Foundation, which he founded in 2003 with his wife, Brittany, whom he met at Purdue. The foundation’s mission statement is “to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and provide care, education and opportunities for children and families in need.” Brees’ website also states that the foundation has contributed $25,000,000 and growing to charities globally.

Upon his arrival to New Orleans, Brees began acting like a saint for the people of New Orleans. He immediately started building Brees Dream Foundation contributions around the city. In 2007, he partnered with Operation Kids “in an attempt to rebuild and recreate academic facilities as well as parks, playgrounds, athletic centers, after school and mentoring programs. By revitalizing and restoring child care projects and facilities in New Orleans, Brees instantly became a fan favourite and hero amongst Saints fans.”

In Brees’ case, it’s not a single grand gesture but a building mound of simple kind interactions over the years.

Ten years ago, back in that first season with Brees in the Big Easy, there was a seminal moment on the football field. If you don’t remember much from that season in New Orleans, you should know of former Saints safety Steve Gleason blocking a Falcons’ punt in the first quarter and officially bringing the damaged city back to life. There is now a statue of Gleason blocking that punt outside of the Superdome. Just five short years later, Gleason was diagnosed with ALS.

Since then, Brees has been one of Gleason’s fiercest allies. Earlier this year, in March, Brees spoke highly of Gleason to People Magazine: “[Steve’s] journey through ALS over the last five years has been remarkable. His response to the diagnosis has been all guts and grit. He has given a face to ALS. He is one of the most incredible people I know.”

Once you are a teammate of Brees, you are teammates forever. Nobody knows that to be true more than his wife and mother to their four children.

In November 2011, Drew and Brittany Brees appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show together.

“I can’t thank you both enough,” Ellen told them, “everything that you’ve done for my hometown of New Orleans I’m so grateful for. And of course New Orleans in grateful for. But you have a foundation that does such great work, and I want you to tell everybody about your foundation.”

“The Brees Dream Foundation.” Brittany says. “We actually came up with it on our honeymoon.”

“As much pride as I know I take in my on-the-field activities, I take more pride in what we’re able to do with our foundation,” Drew adds. “It’s really about making a difference in the lives of kids that otherwise wouldn’t have certain opportunities, and especially with the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.”

The segment ends with Brittany and Drew giving Ellen gifts.

Of course they did.