← 2001 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R2 · #32 OVERALL · QB

Drew Brees

Drafted by LAC · GM John Butler · Purdue

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow Drew Brees across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played287
Games started286
Weighted career AV167
Pro Bowls13
AP1 All-Pro1
Career seasons20

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

2001 · Round 2 · #32

LAC draft credit

GM John Butler

Team games59
Team starts58
On-team AV49
On-team PB / AP11 / 0
Terrible-5.49 contribution16th of 16 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

Long-career hit

Drew Brees became a 20-season, 287-game NFL player after going #32. The retained-value model still ranks him 16th of 16 for John Butler because LAC only got 59 of those games.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is -5.49. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from John Butler's leaderboard composite θ.

Full-career context prevents this from being labeled as a bad talent pick: the negative model score is about retained team value, not whether the draft identified an NFL-caliber player.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
59
on drafting team · 287 full-career
Games started
58
on drafting team · 286 full-career
Snap-z
0.0
0 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
49
modeled; full weighted AV 167
AV / 1k snaps
snap-era only
AV-rate z
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
1
13 full-career
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
1 full-career · AP2 context 0
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move John Butler's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every John Butler pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. Drew Brees totals -5.49. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-4-20+2+4+6+85. Tomlinson#5 · LaDainian Tomlinson · aggregate +9.59Tomlinson +9.6139. Moreno#139 · Zeke Moreno · aggregate +0.86216. Burford#216 · Seth Burford · aggregate +0.34244. Carswell#244 · Robert Carswell · aggregate +0.315. Jammer#5 · Quentin Jammer · aggregate +0.2439. Fonoti#39 · Toniu Fonoti · aggregate +0.1648. Caldwell#48 · Reche Caldwell · aggregate -0.0767. Cody#67 · Tay Cody · aggregate -0.18142. Charles#142 · Terry Charles · aggregate -0.32178. Anderle#178 · Matt Anderle · aggregate -0.38132. Silvers#132 · Elliot Silvers · aggregate -0.55112. Polk#112 · Carlos Polk · aggregate -0.6071. Leber#71 · Ben Leber · aggregate -0.74103. Peelle#103 · Justin Peelle · aggregate -1.33201. Gorin#201 · Brandon Gorin · aggregate -1.8532. Brees#32 · Drew Brees · aggregate -5.49Brees -5.5

Incremental contribution by season

-7-6-5-4-3-2-10+1+2+32001 · Zeke Moreno · incremental +0.262001 · Robert Carswell · incremental +0.442001 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +0.602001 · Carlos Polk · incremental -0.102001 · Tay Cody · incremental -0.262001 · Drew Brees · incremental -0.872001 · Elliot Silvers · incremental -0.942001 · Brandon Gorin · incremental -2.912002 · Robert Carswell · incremental +0.022002 · Carlos Polk · incremental +0.032002 · Toniu Fonoti · incremental +0.032002 · Zeke Moreno · incremental +0.392002 · Seth Burford · incremental +0.482002 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +1.432002 · Tay Cody · incremental -0.042002 · Reche Caldwell · incremental -0.052002 · Justin Peelle · incremental -0.412002 · Terry Charles · incremental -0.572002 · Matt Anderle · incremental -0.672002 · Ben Leber · incremental -0.692002 · Drew Brees · incremental -1.712002 · Quentin Jammer · incremental -3.552003 · Carlos Polk · incremental +0.032003 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382003 · Zeke Moreno · incremental +0.602003 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +0.842003 · Tay Cody · incremental -0.012003 · Reche Caldwell · incremental -0.032003 · Ben Leber · incremental -0.162003 · Justin Peelle · incremental -0.722003 · Drew Brees · incremental -1.142004 · Carlos Polk · incremental +0.012004 · Toniu Fonoti · incremental +0.142004 · Zeke Moreno · incremental +0.172004 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382004 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +3.132004 · Reche Caldwell · incremental -0.082004 · Ben Leber · incremental -0.192004 · Justin Peelle · incremental -0.562004 · Drew Brees · incremental -3.202005 · Reche Caldwell · incremental +0.042005 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.372005 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +1.512005 · Ben Leber · incremental -0.102005 · Justin Peelle · incremental -0.162005 · Drew Brees · incremental -1.932006 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382006 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +3.372006 · Carlos Polk · incremental -0.492007 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.342007 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +3.152007 · Carlos Polk · incremental -0.262008 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382008 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +0.712009 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382009 · LaDainian Tomlinson · incremental +0.472010 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.382011 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.352012 · Quentin Jammer · incremental +0.39Brees -0.9Gorin -2.9Brees -1.7Jammer -3.5Brees -1.1Tomlinson +3.1Brees -3.2Tomlinson +1.5Brees -1.9Tomlinson +3.4Tomlinson +3.220018 players200214 players20039 players20049 players20056 players20063 players20073 players20082 players20092 players20101 player20111 player20121 player
Above expectationBelow expectationDrew BreesGM total -0.0Drew Brees by season -8.8

How much retained production did Drew Brees return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: QBs drafted within ±5 picks of Drew Brees since 2010 (6 players). Dark marks are GOAT-tier benchmarks (Brady, Manning, Mahomes) for orientation.The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

-2-10+1+2+3+4Model value above slot1. ManningPeyton Manning · model value +4.9+4.9199. BradyTom Brady · model value +4.5+4.532. JacksonLamar Jackson · model value +3.5+3.510. MahomesPatrick Mahomes · model value +2.8+2.836. KaepernickColin Kaepernick · model value +1.236. CarrDerek Carr · model value +1.235. DaltonAndy Dalton · model value +0.833. LevisWill Levis · model value +0.232. BridgewaterTeddy Bridgewater · model value -0.332. BreesDrew Brees · model value -2.1-2.1
Drew BreesSlot-similar peers (6)GOAT QBs (Brady, Manning, Mahomes)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'05'10'15'2007114221328401Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (20 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
2001LAC101
2002LAC161610
2003LAC11116
2004LAC151517
2005LAC161615
2006NO161615
2007NO161614
2008NO161617
2009NO151516
2010NO161614
2011NO161620
2012NO161615
2013NO16161,1111.51715.3
2014NO16161,1391.61614.0
2015NO15151,0881.51412.9
2016NO16161,1541.51613.9
2017NO16161,0321.41716.5
2018NO15159791.21616.3
2019NO11106350.41117.3
2020NO12117170.71013.9

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