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Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

Drew Brees has been so good for so long, we tend to take for granted just how amazing he has been, especially since he became the Saints' starting quarterback in 2006. Since that season, Brees leads all quarterbacks in passing attempts (6,949), completions (4,711), completion percentage (67.79 percent), passing yards (53,763) and passing touchdowns (385). While Tom Brady has all the rings and Peyton Manning has collected as many stats as anyone ever will, Brees has stated his own case as an all-timer.

Still, he's frequently left out of the discussion. Part of that is the fact that he's a contemporary of Brady and Manning (as well as newer gunslingers like Aaron Rodgers), and part of it is that, through no fault of his own, the Saints have descended into a vat of mediocrity over the last half-decade. That has just about everything to do with a series of abysmal defenses that have had Brees fighting uphill to play catch-up in just about every game.

His stats over the last five years, when the Saints have gone 7-9 four times, bear that out. Since 2012, Brees has led the NFL in attempts and completions twice and passing yards four times—including each of the last three seasons. It would be nice if, at age 38, he was on a more balanced team, but he's able to use his physical gifts and football smarts to keep the Saints from further trouble. Without him, they might have been lucky to win three or four games in some of those seasons.

There are times when the imbalance takes its toll. Brees wasn't quite as accurate as a deep passer last season—there were instances in which his receivers had to slow up to catch his missiles, and he threw four interceptions to just six touchdowns on passes that traveled 20 yards in the air or more. Losing receiver Brandin Cooks to the Patriots won't help, though Michael Thomas has the potential to be a deep-ball threat.

We're splitting hairs, though. Brees is still devastating in the short-to-intermediate game, and if he wanted to junkball his way to another half-decade in the NFL, he'd still be one of the game's better quarterbacks. He will play out the final year of his current contract with the Saints in 2017, and one wonders if he'll want to bail for greener pastures after that. With the amount of support he's had to extend to his franchise in recent years, it'd be tough to blame him if he did. — Doug Farrar, NFL1000 Lead Scout