New Orleans Saints legend Drew Brees is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time in 2026, as he has finally made it five years away from his last playing season by then. Not only every Saints fan, but every ball-knowing NFL fan agrees Brees is a first-ballot Hall of Fame lock; there is nothing to discuss when it comes to the topic; he has done everything you could ask from him, and put together an award list that goes on for about two pages on its own.
Super Bowl winner, Super Bowl MVP, two-time OPOY, five-time All-Pro, 13-time Pro Bowler, seven-time NFL passing yards leader, four-time NFL passing touchdowns leader, owns three of the top five single-season completion percentages, Saints Hall of Famer, Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, most career 5,000 yard seasons, most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, 80,358 passing yards, 571 career passing touchdowns, 67.7% career completion rate, and for those who care, a 172-114 career record with a Saints team that lacked competent defensive play for many years. That is less than a quarter of what he did for New Orleans on the field, never mind off it.
The only man above Brees in some of the key career passing statistics is Tom Brady, due to his extra 49 starts, who will also be pretty much the strongest lock for first-ballot Hall of Fame induction when he is eligible. But when it comes to efficiency, effectiveness in all scenarios, and just year-by-year dominance no matter who is surrounding him, Brees takes the cake.
One of Brees’ longtime teammates and fellow Super Bowl XLIV champion, punter Thomas Morstead, made clear his view of the eligibility for Brees, sharing a simple four-word response when discussing the upcoming 2026 class:
🏈Larry Fitzgerald
🏈Drew Brees
🏈Philip Rivers
🏈Jason Witten
🏈Frank Gore
🏈Julian Edelman
🏈Maurkice Pouncey
🏈LeSean McCoy
🏈Thomas Davis
🏈Greg Olsen
🏈Alex Smith
🏈Dez Bryant
🏈Stephen Gostkowski
🏈Geno Atkins
🏈David DeCastro
🏈Mike Pouncey
🏈Sean Lee
🏈Todd Gurley
🏈Jurrell Casey
That is about as simple as it gets, and anyone who played with or against him would likely have the same response when asked. Brees was lethal in every facet of his game, both in his prime and even towards the back-end of his career. While it is a complete injustice that he never received an MVP award, it just simply does not matter towards his eligibility, because the second you look at his numbers and profound impact on the team he played the majority of his career for, it is clear where he belongs.
