Drew Gets Paid

Alex Dunlap, Rosterwatch.com



Drew Brees with a young, care-free, fat me (79) (1996)

Drew Brees will make $2.5 Million dollars per game in 2012.

The reason he won his contract negotiations, the reason he knows more about the CBA than most NFL front office staff, it’s the same reason he wins football games and sets records. He is always prepared, and he is always stone cold.

Every time something great happens for Drew, I am reminded of this story. I told it in the Austin Chronicle, in an article about Ryan Tannehill of all people. I feel like it illustrates a point about how much a true football leader means to a team.

Ask any Ravens’ coach how hard a team they are to manage with a leader like Ray Lewis. In this league, a leader that commands a level respect that borders fear among his teammates possesses the intangible of all intangibles. Drew Brees does, and as you will see, always has, commanded that sort of respect from his teammates. He started at a young age.

Excerpt from “The NFL Beat” Ryan Tannehill Pro Day Coverage at AustinChronicle.com

Prior to our 1996 state championship season, Drew called a players-only meeting. He told the team of young, bored high school students that if we wanted to win a championship, we needed to make some promises to each other. There would be no drinking alcohol or being seen at parties where alcohol was served. There would be no missed practices (even if you were absent from school that day) unless you called your position coach with a damn good explanation.

There would be no hanging out in the air-conditioned training room during practice if you were injured. You were still a part of the team and needed to be present at practice and install, supporting teammates. Finally, there would be no drinking soda. If anyone was seen participating in these acts, Drew said he would “handle punishment personally”. This was a 17 year old.

Guess what? No one ever found out what he meant by that because nobody broke the rules. We went on to an undefeated 16-0 season, winning the Texas 5A state championship. What a quarterback. I sometimes wonder how much of this intangible value to a team you are born with, and how much is learned through years and years of “growing into” the position and developing confidence through each level of competition. I wonder if it’s aggregate.

Drew is gonna make $2.5 Million per game next season.

Unreal.