No Controversy Here; Drew Breezes Into NFL Hall of Fame
As expected, Purdue legend Drew Brees was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Fittingly, his enshrinement ceremony will be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, in August. Benson was owner of the New Orleans Saints when the combination of Brees and head coach Sean Payton helped turn the franchise from a perennial loser to a Super Bowl champion. Brees is the Saints’ inaugural first ballot Hall of Famer.
“Drew’s work ethic, preparation and passion for the game helped launch the New Orleans Saints to new heights,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “Drew raised the standard for excellence throughout our entire organization and established a culture of leadership and accountability that continues to guide us today.”
Brees was originally selected by the San Diego Chargers with the first pick in the second round (32nd overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. He took over the Chargers starting job in 2002 and led San Diego to its first playoff berth in nine seasons in 2004. Brees was selected to his first of 13 Pro Bowls and voted as the consensus NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
After suffering a serious shoulder injury in the last game of the 2005 campaign, Brees signed with New Orleans and had an unforgettable debut season in 2006. He was selected as an Associated Press All-Pro, Pro Bowl starter, led the Saints to the NFC championship game for the first time in franchise history and set the table for a prolonged run of amazing production and consistency.
“I’ll say this: there’s a lot of people riding with me,” Brees said on NFL Network. “Sean Payton and (general manager) Mickey Loomis, two of the guys most responsible for this, bringing me to New Orleans believing in me at a time when it was kind of hard to believe in myself coming off that injury with the San Diego Chargers. I wasn’t sure what the rest of my career would look like. With unwavering positivity, hope and belief, Sean Payton looked me in the eye and said you’re my guy. We’re going to build this offense around you and we’re going to go do something special. Every day that I stepped foot in the facility I wanted to prove them right.”
A season after becoming only the second quarterback in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards and capturing AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors, Brees led New Orleans to the Super Bowl XLIV title and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. His heroics on and off the field earned him the esteemed Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and AP Male Athlete of the Year honors.
In 2011, Brees produced one of the most prolific seasons ever as he was named AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year for the second time, completing 468 of 657 passes (71.2 percent) for 5,476 yards with 46 touchdown passes. He set what was then the league’s single-season passing yardage mark in leading New Orleans to its second 13-3 campaign in three seasons.
In 2018, Brees set the NFL’s single-season record for completion percentage (74.4), completing 364 of 489 passes for 3,992 yards with 32 touchdowns and only five interceptions while leading the Saints to the NFC Championship game. In what would turn out to be his final season in 2020, Brees became the first quarterback to surpass 80,000 career passing yards.
Brees retired as the league’s all-time leader in passing yardage (80,358), completions (7,142) passing attempts (10,551), ranked second in career completion percentage (67.7 pct.) and touchdown passes (571) and fifth in passer rating (98.7).
He threw for more than 5,000 yards an NFL-record five times, a feat no other player has accomplished more than twice.
Brees thanked Purdue for helping him reach the pinnacle of pro football in an interview with Chris Hagen of Fox 59 in Indianapolis.
“I love Purdue and it really paved the way for me for so many opportunities for me and certainly this opportunity for going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Brees said.
“I tell you what, I carry so many people from Purdue with me. Joe Tiller, being one, Greg Olson, Tim Lappano, Jim Chaney – all of the guys who came to recruit me out of the state of Texas, where I didn’t want to leave.”
Brees is the fifth Purdue representative in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the third Super Bowl champion quarterback.
The late Len Dawson was elected in 1987 after a 19-year career, mostly with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Pro Football Hall of Fame website declares that Dawson “ranks among the elite forward passers of all time.”
He will be best remembered in Kansas City for leading the Chiefs to a 23-7 upset of the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Dawson connected on 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards in the now-historic game, and his 46-yard pass completion to Otis Taylor wrapped up the surprise victory that evened the AFL-NFL portion of the Super Bowl series at two wins each. Dawson was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Like Brees, Dawson’s early years in the NFL were a struggle. He spent five seasons as a seldom-used backup in Pittsburgh and Cleveland before joining his former Purdue quarterbacks coach Hank Stram with the American Football League’s Dallas Texans. The Texans won the AFL title in Dawson’s first season (1962) before moving to Kansas City the following year. Dawson also led the Chiefs to AFL titles in 1966 and 1969.
Stram called his protégé “the most accurate passer in pro football.” Dawson won four AFL individual passing crowns in 1962, 1964, 1966 and 1968. During his career, he completed 2,136 of 3,741 passes for 28,711 yards and 239 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,293 yards before retiring after the 1975 season.
Bob Griese of the Miami Dolphins followed three years later in 1990. The Hall of Fame website states that Griese “was the poised leader of a classic ball-control offense that generated an awesomely efficient running attack, three AFC championships in 1971, 1972 and 1973 and victories in Super Bowls VII and VIII.”
In 14 seasons, Griese threw 3,429 passes, completing 1,926 for 25,092 yards and 192 touchdowns. He also rushed 261 times for 994 yards and seven touchdowns.
A six-time Dolphins MVP, he was named All-Pro in 1971 and 1977, and All-AFC four times (1970, 1971, 1973 and 1977). He played in two AFL All-Star games and six AFC-NFC Pro Bowls.
Stram got the Hall of Fame call in 2003, two years before his death. During the 10-year history of the AFL, Stram’s Texans / Chiefs won more games than any other AFL team and more championships than any other coach (1962, 1966, 1969). He also led the 1971 Chiefs to an AFC Western Division championship.
His Hall of Fame biography describes Stram as “an innovative coach (who) developed or utilized such things as the ‘moving pocket,’ which used the talents of his quarterback Len Dawson. He devised a two-tight end offense – it provided an extra blocker and slowed down the pass rush. On defense, he made famous his ‘stack defense,’ with linebackers stacked behind down linemen. Whether he used a 3-4 defensive alignment or a 4-3, Stram differed from other coaches of that day by always having a man head-up on the center.”
His 17-year coaching record was 131-97-10. Eight of his Chiefs players are also in the Hall of Fame: Dawson, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp, Willie Lanier, Johnny Robinson, Jan Stenerud and Emmitt Thomas.
A member of the 75th and 100th NFL Anniversary teams, Rod Woodson entered the Hall of Fame in 2009 as one of the greatest defensive backs in pro football history.
Woodson was the 1992 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. During his 17 NFL seasons with Pittsburgh, San Francisco, the Baltimore Ravens and Oakland, Woodson intercepted 71 passes, including an NFL record 12 touchdown returns, for a record 1,483 yards.
He was named to the Pro Bowl 11 times, a record for a defensive back.
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.