There is reason for Drew Brees to smile. The former Purdue Boilermaker and second-round pick of the San Diego Chargers signed a six-year, $60 million deal this past offseason to line up under center for the New Orleans Saints. Brees parlayed two extremely successful seasons, 6,735 yards passing and 51 touchdowns, into his free-agent lottery.

Brees leaves behind LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates and Keenan McCardell in America’s most beautiful city but arrives in the rebuilding ‘Big Easy’ with plenty of firepower at his disposal with running backs Deuce McAlister and Reggie Bush along with wideouts Joe Horn and Donte’ Stallworth.

There’s just one little problem.

In the final game of the season versus the Broncos, Brees tore cartilage in his throwing shoulder. Brees had never been known as a strong-armed quarterback prior to the injury and now he faces questions as he rehabilitates his way into the Saints mini-camp schedule.

Will Brees come back and be as effective pre-injury?

It is a question that all fantasy league owners want to know.

A good comparison with Brees can be made with Jets quarterback Chad Pennington. Pennington entered the league in 2000 as a first-round pick for the Jets. Brees entered the league as a second-round pick in 2001 for the Chargers.

Pennington has a size advantage over Brees standing 6-3 and weighing 225 pounds. Brees, at 6-0 and 205 pounds, is smallish for an NFL starter.



By analyzing the graph above, a fantasy owner can determine that both quarterbacks have averaged similar yards-per-attempt since the start of their career. Pennington first hurt his shoulder in 2003 and again in 2005. After posting a career-high 7.82 yards-per-attempt in 2002, Pennington has averaged 7.20, 7.22, and 6.39 yards-per-attempt the last three seasons.

Brees averaged a career-high 7.9 yards-per-attempt in 2004 but then dropped to 7.15 yards-per-attempt in 2005.

No scout, coach, owner or fan has confused Brees or Pennington with Brett Favre or Carson Palmer for arm strength, both were very well known as cerebral quarterbacks prior to their injury. But a shoulder surgery isn’t the same as the formerly dreaded ACL injury, which most experts listed as a two-year return to full strength. League history is littered with quarterbacks like Greg Cook, whom Bill Walsh refers as still one of the ‘greatest quarterbacks’ he has ever seen, that injured their throwing shoulder and never returned to their previous capacity.

The bottom line is that fantasy owners should continuously check our 4for4.com’s "Hot New Pre-Season Player Pages" for continuous updates on Drew Brees throughout minicamp.

AFC Quarterback Issues:

Baltimore – It was announced today that Steve McNair has officially been dealt from the Titans to the Ravens for a fourth-round pick. This is a disaster for fantasy league owners in deeper leagues. McNair, one of the most respected quarterbacks in all of football, has missed 12 games in the last three seasons. Assuming that Kyle Boller remains in Baltimore as McNair’s backup, Boller is equally fragile missing seven games last year. Fantasy league owners are now faced with using two roster spots for one starter if Baltimore is of interest.

Buffalo – It gets even worse around Lake Erie as the Bills have three quarterbacks – Kelly Holcomb, J.P. Losman, and Craig Nall – all vying for the starting position. The trio poses an interesting dilemma for new head coach Dick Jauron and offensive coordinator Tom Clement. Holcomb represents the veteran fraternity while he enters his 10th season in the league and the former Colt and Brown started eight games last year in Buffalo. J.P. Losman is the ‘franchise’ after being Buffalo’s first-round pick in 2004 and starting the other eight games for the Bills in 2005. Craig Nall, once a street free-agent, has joined the club after being a Brett Favre-protégé for four seasons in Green Bay. Former Favre protégés have made a name for themselves in the league and are represented by Mark Brunell, Ty Detmer, Aaron Brooks, and Matt Hasselbeck.

Cincinnati – As Buffalo hoped for ‘the franchise’ with their selection of J.P. Losman in 2004, the Bengals struck gold with Carson Palmer as the first pick of the 2003 NFL Draft. Palmer has been brilliant in his first two years as a starter passing for 6,733 yards and 50 touchdowns while leading Cincinnati to their first playoffs in 15 years. But, in Cincinnati, former Steeler Kimo von Oelhoffen is the villain who swiped away the Bengals hope with a low tackle to start their playoff game injuring Palmer who limped off the field with an ACL injury. Palmer, though ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation, is expected to sit the first four games and through Week 5, which is a bye week for Cincinnati. Anthony Wright would assume the starting role during that time.

New York Jets – As mentioned previously, Chad Pennington continues his comeback from the injury trail and new head coach Eric Mangini has grabbed a little insurance by acquiring Patrick Ramsey from the Washington Redskins. If Pennington is a ‘no-go’ to start the year, an interesting competition will heat up between Ramsey and former Wisconsin Badger Brooks Bollinger. In nine starts, Bollinger passed for an anemic 1,558 yards while completing 56.4% of his passes for seven touchdowns. By comparison, Ramsey hasn’t been much better completing 55.7% of his passes and averaging a little less than 1½ touchdown passes per start (34 in 24 starts). J-E-T-S fans are praying for Chad’s comeback to health.

Tennessee Titans – With the departure of Steve McNair, it is assumed that Billy Volek will take the reins of the Titan offense as superstar collegian Vince Young is groomed for the role. But could the starting job be within Young’s grasp? Despite Volek passing for more yards in the first nine starts of his career (2,591), the former Fresno State star has started only ten games in his six-year career. Vince Young could have been strictly an “owner/general manager” selection especially with Bud Adam’s history of sticking it to the citizens of Houston, but if offensive coordinator Norm Chow was on board with this selection and Young progresses more than expected through training camp, the Longhorns superstar could make his way on to the football field.