Courtesy: Toronto Argonauts
Drew Brees had a highly productive career as an NFL quarterback despite his stature.
Coming out of Purdue University, Brees checked in at six-foot-and-a-quarter, 213 pounds. He was an undersized QB by standard NFL measurements. However, when the San Diego Chargers selected him in the second round, 32nd overall, during the 2001 NFL Draft, the Dallas, Tex. native was not the smallest pivot on the team.
“Not only was I short, but I camein the league behind a guy named Doug Flutie, who, in my opinion, is one of the greatest quarterbacksin all of professional football. Heplayed every level of it from the USFL to the CFL to the NFL,” Brees said on The Dan Patrick Show.
“He was doing things that were ahead of his time, and I don’t think he gets the appreciation for it.He was Patrick Mahomes before Patrick Mahomes. Everything you see Mahomes do,I saw Flutie do every day in practice, from the no-look throws to the back shoulder throwsto manipulating defenders with his eyes, buying time.”
Flutie won the Heisman Trophy in 1984, claimed the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award six times, hoisted the Grey Cup three times, and earned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 1998 while also being voted to the Pro Bowl in the same year. He holds the three-down league’s single-season passing yards record (6,619) and single-season passing touchdown mark (48).
“He had such an incredible feel for the game. A lot of the things he did, he did out of survival. Truly, he did things out of survival. He wouldn’t have been able to play the position if he wasn’t able to do these things,” Brees said.
“I think some of the greatest innovations in history are becausethere was a problem that needed to be solved or you had a limitation that youhad to overcome in some way with some other sort of talent.”
Brees had a “front row seat” to Flutie’s magic for four seasons with the Chargers from 2001 through 2004. Flutie started 16 games for San Diego during Brees’ first year in the NFL. That was near the end of his 21-year professional football career. He started his pro run in 1985 with the New Jersey Generals and finished with the New England Patriots in 2005.
“He was an incredible mentor for me, and I learned so much from him.I would say he played the game at five-nine-and-a-half or whateverDoug was — I don’t think that’s a limitation,” Brees said.