Former NFL player Drew Brees is introduced during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Sue Ogrocki
Kellen Moore kept Saturday's team meeting short and simple.
He didn't discuss any X’s and O’s. And there was no use reviewing anything that happened earlier in practice.
The only thing Moore wanted his team to see and hear was the 28-minute speech Drew Brees delivered at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
“That’s all they needed,” Moore said.
Brees, the greatest player in franchise history, once sat in the very same meeting room that current Saints’ players watched from Saturday. The message he delivered while on stage in Canton, Ohio, resonated over a thousand miles away on Airline Drive in Metairie.
“I have no words,” said rookie receiver Bryce Lance. “It was really, really impactful. The full room was moved after watching that speech and I’m very thankful to coach for allowing us to watch that.”
Brees delivered a speech that deserves its own space in the Hall of Fame. He discussed the road that took him from a lightly recruited kid out of Texas to one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.
"As good of a speech as you’re ever going to hear," Moore said. "The impact it has on all of us when it relates to the journey of football, the New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans is pretty awesome."
Brees had his share of hiccups along the way, including a shoulder injury before he arrived in New Orleans that could have ended his career. Instead, he persevered and rewrote the NFL record book. Overcoming adversity was the one message that Moore hopes his players received.
“For all of our guys — when you’re in the middle of training camp — adversity is always going to come,” Moore said. “Everyone has faced adversity. Drew faced adversity through his career and his life. I think it’s always a reminder.”
Saints defensive back Terrell Burgess grew up in San Diego, where Brees played the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Chargers. When Burgess was 16, he even got a chance to work out with Brees. So hearing the speech was like a full-circle moment.
“Just listening to how much he loves the game of football is really inspirational,” Burgess said. “Every day he went out there with dignity and made sure he made everyone around him play as well as they could.”
Brees mentioned about 70 people in his speech. That included family members, friends, former coaches and teammates. That stuck out to Lance, who was only a year old when Brees entered the league in 2001.
“He’s a Hall of Famer now and all he talks about is his teammates and coaches and everyone around him,” Lance said. “I think that’s something we are really trying to build (here). I know I haven’t been here long, but I can tell that’s something we are going to try to emulate.”
Brees earning his spot in Canton is the pinnacle of his career. But there is still one thing left.
Some day — hopefully sooner than later — the New Orleans Saints will erect a Brees statue.
And if they really want to get it right, they will engrave the most powerful line from Brees’ speech on the base of the statue: “You trusted me with the soul of the city and I would have died to protect that calling.”
Those 18 words should be etched in writing forever, much like Brees’ speech will be etched in the memories of Saints’ fans forever. His love for the city that loved him back was just as important as all the talk about teamwork and camaraderie.
“It gave me a better understanding of the city and the culture and everybody here and the fandom of the Saints,” Lance said.
Zach Wood, the Saints’ veteran long snapper, got a chance to see that fandom in person. Wood was one of three current Saints (Cam Jordan and Alvin Kamara were the others) who attended the ceremony. Who Dats were everywhere.
“It felt like the old days when Drew was here,” Wood said. “It felt like the Dome. It was a good reminder of how special he was to the city and how much the city lived through him.”
For the new players on the roster still trying to find the best food spots in the city or still learning how to pronounce “Tchoupitoulas”, Brees’ speech was a reminder of what makes New Orleans different. Moore knows the value of his players hearing that.
“That’s the important part,” Moore said. “For a lot of the younger guys, they have got a taste of our city, our community. But they are busy in training camp and living in a hotel a lot of times during this part of the year. They start recognizing how this is different. To be honest, this isn’t a normal NFL team. This is different. This is a really special place.”
In a team meeting room on Saturday, the younger Saints players learned just how special a place it is. A special player delivered the message loud and clear.