[jwplayer AXUXkzRQ-ThvAeFxT]
There isn’t much to complain about how Drew Brees plays quarterback, and for good reason. The New Orleans Saints living legend has shattered records, and won a Super Bowl championship for a city that few dreamed would ever see it happen.
And he’s gotten better with, continually raising the bar for accuracy. But there’s one area of Brees’ game that has trailed off in the twilight of his career: throwing deep, typically defined as 20 yards or more down the field.
While he’s made it work despite taking fewer and fewer shots downfield each year, Brees’ performance on those big-time throws might be a weakness opponents can exploit. According to a ranking put together by the team at Pro Football Focus, the Saints quarterback was effective when he did go deep, but his lack of attempts in stretching the field are cause for concern. PFF’s Sam Monson wrote:
Few players throw a better deep ball than Drew Brees when he’s at his best, but as he ages, his effectiveness and frequency of deep passing has declined. Only Garoppolo threw deep less often, even adjusting for the games he missed injured, and by late in the year his arm looked alarmingly weak. Does Brees still have this string to his bow? The Saints likely need it if they are to win that elusive second championship.
Brees posted one of the better completion percentages (48.4%) and passer ratings (107.2) you’ll see on this list, but his average yards gained per attempt (13.0) was pedestrian. That suggests that he wasn’t creating chunks of yardage in the way that, say, Patrick Mahomes (18.1) or Deshaun Watson (15.1) were. Interestingly, Teddy Bridgewater averaged 15.7 yards per attempt on his throws deep downfield.
Now that he’s had more time to establish chemistry with seam-threat Jared Cook and added a few new weapons (like Emmanuel Sanders, Adam Trautman, and Ty Montgomery), Brees should have more opportunities to test defenses out past the first-down marker and beyond. Whether his arm will hold up late into the season remains to seen.
[vertical-gallery id=33495]