Is Drew Brees's net worth really $135 million dollars?

Drew Brees

Drew Christopher Brees is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 20 seasons. In 2022, Drew Brees's net worth is estimated to be $135 million dollars.

March 29, 2022

Words by Matthew Taylor

Drew Brees is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees holds the record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass, breaking the feat held by Johnny Unitas for 52 years. He also has the second-highest NFL career pass completion percentage, along with being second in career touchdown passes, career passing yards, career pass completions, and career pass attempts.

Brees played college football at Purdue, where he set the Big Ten Conference records for completions, attempts, and yards. Despite his collegiate success, questions over his height and arm strength caused him to not be selected until the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. Brees initially struggled before having a breakout season in 2004, earning him Pro Bowl and Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Joining the Saints, he brought new success to a franchise that had only seven winning seasons, five playoff appearances, and one postseason win during the 39 years prior to his arrival. He led the Saints between 2006 and 2020 to nine playoff runs, seven division titles, three NFC Championship Game appearances, and the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XLIV, where he was named MVP.

At the conclusion of his 15 seasons in New Orleans, Brees extended his total Pro Bowl selections to 13 and was twice named Offensive Player of the Year. He also led the NFL in passing yards a record seven times. Brees retired after the 2020 season and joined NBC Sunday Night Football as an analyst.

The average salary for athletes in the United States is around $49,143 per year. Not however, if you play in the NBA where the average salary is projected to be around $8 million this year. Even then, though, earnings vary greatly. While some of the top players (we’re looking at you, Stephen Curry) earned over $45 million last year, others didn’t even reach the million-dollar mark.

All sports aren’t created equal though and basketball doesn’t even make the top five highest earning sports. Ice hockey, tennis and soccer stars round out the top three, with athletes in those sports able to build a huge amount of wealth from their appearance fees alone.

Still, there’s always ways for athletes to increase their earnings. UFC fighter Conor McGregor managed to be the top earning athlete in 2021, but a sizeable amount of his income was due the sale of his majority stake in Irish whiskey distiller Proper No. Twelve. However, opportunities for athletes go well beyond business deals.

As is the case with actors, musicians and other celebrities, the golden ticket to building an athlete’s net worth tends to lie in endorsements, sponsorships and selling their name (and often photos) wherever they can. Athletes have to be careful about what they do and say though… more than a few athletes have lost their product endorsements and been dropped by a brand over a scandal or unwise comment.

Drew Brees

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