What is Drew Brees' Net Worth and Salary?
Drew Brees is a retired American professional NFL quarterback who has a net worth of $160 million. Drew Brees had a remarkable 20-year career in the NFL as a quarterback. Drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 2001, he played five seasons there before joining the New Orleans Saints in 2006, where he became a franchise icon.
Brees led the Saints to their first and only Super Bowl victory in 2010, earning MVP honors. He was selected to 13 Pro Bowls and named First-team All-Pro once. Brees won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award twice and led the league in passing yards a record seven times. Known for his accuracy and leadership, Brees retired in 2021 holding numerous NFL records, including career passing yards (80,358), career pass completions (7,142), and single-season completion percentage (74.4%). He's the only quarterback to pass for over 5,000 yards in a season five times.
Off the field, Brees was known for his charitable work, particularly in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. His impact extended beyond football, as he became a symbol of the city's resilience and recovery.
Salary and Contracts
During his NFL career he earned $270 million in salary alone. At his peak he also earned $15 million per year from endorsements. In 2005, Brees was given a one-year, $8-million contract from the Chargers. In 2006, he signed a 6-year, $60-million contract with the Saints, which included nearly $22 million in bonuses. He signed a number of additional big contracts, including a five-year, $100-million contract (the most amount of guaranteed money in NFL history at the time) and a two-year, $50-million deal signed in 2018.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, Drew earned $50 million in salary, bonuses, and endorsements. Between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $43 million. He earned another $40 million between 2018 and 2019. Between June 2019 and June 2020, he earned $45 million.
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Early Life
Drew Christopher Brees was born on January 15th, 1979, in Dallas, Texas. Drew was raised alongside one brother, and his parents divorced when he was seven. Although the next period was rough for the boys, they developed a close relationship and helped each other deal with their emotions.
Brees eventually started playing flag football during high school, although he was also interested in several other sports – most notably basketball. After suffering a serious knee injury, Brees returned to sports and became a promising quarterback for his high school team. His statistics were stunning, with 50 touchdowns and 314 completed passes.
College Football
Despite proving himself as a high school quarterback, Brees wasn't heavily recruited by colleges. Only Kentucky and Purdue were interested, and he chose the latter due to their academic reputation. Drew didn't get his first start until his second year at college when coach Joe Tiller made him the offensive captain and taught him an unorthodox, spread offense strategy known as "basketball on grass."
Purdue were the underdogs in the college world, but Brees led them to several exciting upsets against much higher-rated teams. One notable example was a last-minute victory against Ohio State, in which Drew racked up four interceptions and a game-winning, 64-yard touchdown pass. By the end of his college football career, Brees had won numerous awards and accolades while breaking many records. Brees graduated from Purdue in 2001 with a degree in industrial management.
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NFL Career
Just like his high school days, Drew's exemplary record at college wasn't enough to convince onlookers from the NFL. However, he was eventually selected by the San Diego Chargers in the 2001 Draft. Brees didn't get much playing time in his first season, as he was back up to starting quarterback Doug Flutie. However, his chance eventually came when Flutie suffered a concussion. Replacing the starting quarterback, Brees racked up over 200 passing yards and his first touchdown pass.
By 2002, he had replaced Flutie as the starting quarterback. However, lackluster performances prompted the Chargers to reverse their decision, making Flutie the starter once more. By 2003, Brees replaced Flutie a second time. Before the 2004 season, the Chargers acquired a new quarterback: Phillip Rivers.
Brees defended his position as the starting quarterback against Rivers. Indeed, the 2004 season was his best yet, as Drew established a 65.5% passing completion rate and a 104.8 passer rating. During that season, the Chargers also won the Western Division of the American Football Conference for the first time in ten years.
Despite this, the Chargers were investing heavily in Phillip Rivers as their main future quarterback, and Brees was expected to leave. When Brees wasn't traded as expected, he continued for the Chargers with one final year as a franchise player. The season went well for Drew until the last game, when he tore the labrum of his right shoulder. Serious concerns were raised, as this was his throwing shoulder. He subsequently received arthroscopic surgery to repair the shoulder.
After the Chargers refused to increase Bree's salary in a new, five-year contract, he signed with the only team that wasn't dissuaded by his recent injury – the New Orleans Saints. As it turned out, the injury did not affect Drew Bree in any conceivable way. He led the league in passing yards during his first seasons with the Saints, and in 2008, he became the second NFL player in history to throw for over 5,000 yards in a single season. After winning a number of awards and leading the Saints to their first Superbowl win, he was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2010.
In 2011, Brees won the much-coveted "triple crown," leading the league in completion percentage, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. That season, he also broke the NFL record for most passing yards in a single season, with 5,084. But despite Brees' accomplishments, the Saints struggled to maintain their form, faltering from 2014 to 2016.
In 2017, they returned to the playoffs after missing them since 2013. Brees and the Saints continued to establish a solid record over the next few years, and in 2018, they suffered a controversial playoff defeat against the Los Angeles Rams after a penalty was not given. In the 2019 season, Brees missed eight weeks due to a torn ligament in his hand.
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Jewelry Lawsuit
In 2018 Drew Brees was involved in a high-profile lawsuit against a La Jolla jeweler named Vahid Moradi. Brees and his wife, Brittany, claimed that Moradi had misrepresented the value of diamonds he sold them, leading to a significant financial loss.
The lawsuit alleged that Moradi had made false claims about the investment value of the diamonds, selling them at inflated prices. Brees claimed to have spent around $15 million over several years at the jeweler on various items including watches, earrings and other rings, partly under the pretense that it was a good investment would appreciate in value. Moradi's attorney, fired back hard with a completely different view of the situation in a statement, contradicting the basic premise of Brees' lawsuit:
"Drew Brees aggressively purchased multi-million dollar pieces of jewelry. Years later, claiming to suffer 'cash flow problems,' he tried to bully my client into undoing the transactions."
"Mr. Brees's behavior and his belief that he was wronged because the jewelry did not appreciate in value as quickly as he hoped both demonstrate a lack of integrity and contradict basic principles of both economics and the law."
"He should restrict his game-playing to the football field, and refrain from bullying honest, hard-working businessmen like my client."
After a trial, a jury found in favor of Drew Brees and his wife, awarding them over $6 million in damages.
NBC Broadcasting Contract
In April 2020 it was announced that Drew had signed a contract to do television commentary for NBC. The deal paid him a salary of $6 million per year. Unfortunately, the deal ended after just one season.
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Real Estate
In 2003, Drew Brees and his wife purchased a property near Carmel Valley, California, for $2.2 million. The house features 6,000 square feet of living space, a 6-car garage, and a pool. In 2012, he and his wife sold the property for a small profit margin, settling on a final price of $2.4 million. In 2006, Brees purchased a New Orleans property for $1.575 million.
In 2019, Drew Brees purchased a property in Lafayette, LA. He then built a 49,000-square-foot family entertainment and sports facility on the land called Surge Entertainment. The facility is reportedly state-of-the-art and provides family entertainment in a way that has never been done before.
In October 2020, Drew acquired a unit at the brand new Four Seasons New Orleans Hotel & Private Residences. He paid an undisclosed sum in the "several million dollars" range for his spot in the hotel. Details about the no-doubt spacious unit aren't exactly plentiful as of now (according to its official site it's not even opening up until early next year), but we do know that Brees' residence in the complex will entitle him to some outstanding views of both the French Quarter and the Mississippi River, as well as amenities like a private bar and lounge to a high-tech golf simulator room.
In January 2024, Drew listed a 20-acre property in Whitefish, Montana for $7.95 million. The property features a custom-built estate that was completed a year earlier. The property is located within the 1,400-acre "Homestead" gated community. Here is a video tour:
Philanthropy
In June 2020, Drew and his wife pledged $5 million to Second Harvest Food Bank located in Lafayette, Louisiana. In August 2020, they pledged another $5 million.
Altogether, the Brees Dream Foundation has contributed $35 million and counting to various causes around the world since it was established in 2003.
