Drew Brees
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50 free Drew Brees trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Drew Brees was never supposed to be a franchise quarterback. Team after team let him slide in the 2001 NFL draft, one club let him leave after a serious injury, and another judged him too great a medical risk. He answered by rewriting the league's passing record book and bringing New Orleans its first championship. This quiz follows the whole story: his Texas childhood and Purdue career, where he went in the draft and who picked him, the early years with his first team, the move to a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, the title season, and the long list of records, teammates, rivals and near misses that followed. It also covers his life away from the field, from business ventures and charity work to television. The opening questions suit anyone who watched the Saints in their best years. Later ones are for fans who remember his college upsets and the less-told corners of his career.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team drafted Drew Brees in 2001 after trading away the number one overall pick?
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers sent the top pick to Atlanta, then landed Brees with pick 32. He spent five seasons there before leaving as a free agent.
Q 02Drew Brees was the 32nd overall pick of the 2001 NFL draft, which placed him in which round?
Second
Second round: the NFL had only 31 teams in 2001, so pick 32 came first after the opening round. He had been projected to go in the middle or late first.
Q 03Which team picked Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees in 2006 after its doctors doubted his recovery?
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins broke off talks and traded for Culpepper, so Brees took a six-year, $60 million offer from New Orleans.
Q 04Whose 27-year-old record for passing yards in a season did Drew Brees break in December 2011?
Dan Marino
Dan Marino's mark of 5,084 yards had lasted since 1984. Brees passed it with a game to spare and finished the season on 5,476.
Q 05Which team did Drew Brees and the Saints beat 31–17 in Super Bowl XLIV after trailing 10–0?
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts still led 10–6 at halftime before the Saints took over. It was the first league championship in the franchise's history.
Q 06Which quarterback, taken first overall by Atlanta, was the only one drafted before Drew Brees in 2001?
Michael Vick
Michael Vick was the first player chosen, by a team that had traded up to get him. Brees waited 31 more picks to become the next quarterback off the board.
Q 07Which part of Drew Brees's body was badly injured in his final game for his first NFL team?
Shoulder
Shoulder surgery followed after he tore his labrum trying to recover his own fumble against Denver. The injury was described as potentially career-ending.
Q 08Which first-year head coach took over the Saints in 2006, the same year Drew Brees signed?
Sean Payton
Sean Payton inherited a team that had gone 3–13 while displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He and Brees won the division in their first season together.
Q 09Which team beat Drew Brees's Saints in the 2018 NFC title game after a missed pass interference call?
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams won 26–23 after an uncalled foul stalled a late Saints drive. The outcry led the NFL to let coaches challenge such calls the next season.
Q 10Which mark on Drew Brees's right cheek led to bullying when he was younger?
A birthmark
A birthmark made him a target as a boy, and in 2010 he recorded an anti-bullying message for the It Gets Better campaign.
Q 11Whose career passing yards record did Drew Brees break in 2018 with a 62-yard touchdown pass?
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning's total fell during a 43–19 win in which Brees completed 26 of 29 passes. He later became the first quarterback to reach 80,000 career yards.
Q 12Which quarterback's Buccaneers beat Drew Brees in his final NFL game, a playoff loss in January 2021?
Tom Brady
Tom Brady's team won 30–20 and went on to take Super Bowl LV. Brees had beaten him twice during that regular season.
Q 13Which rookie quarterback did Drew Brees's first NFL team acquire in 2004, putting his job in doubt?
Philip Rivers
Q 21Which postseason game did Drew Brees reach as a Purdue senior, the school's first trip there since 1967?
Rose Bowl
The Rose Bowl ended in a 34–24 loss to Washington on New Year's Day 2001. Purdue earned the trip by sharing the Big Ten title and beating its co-champions head to head.
Q 22In which Texas city was Drew Brees born before his family moved to the Austin area?
Dallas
Dallas was his birthplace, and an often-repeated story held that he was named for a Cowboys receiver. Brees has called that tale just legend.
Q 23Which network hired the newly retired Drew Brees in 2021 to call Notre Dame football games?
NBC
NBC also put him on its Sunday studio show, Football Night in America, but he left after one season.
Philip Rivers reported late after a contract holdout, so Brees kept the job and answered with a Pro Bowl season. Rivers took over two years later.
Q 14Fans voted Drew Brees onto the cover of which video game series two months after his Super Bowl win?
Madden NFL
Madden NFL 11 was the first edition to let fans choose its cover athlete, and Brees won the vote.
Q 15Which magazine named Drew Brees its 2010 Sportsman of the Year, citing his part in rebuilding New Orleans?
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated honored him for the Saints' first title and for helping lead the city's rebirth after Hurricane Katrina. The Associated Press also named him its Male Athlete of the Year.
Q 16Which scandal cost Drew Brees and the Saints their head coach for the entire 2012 season?
Bountygate
Bountygate was a scheme that paid Saints defenders for knocking opponents out of games. Without their suspended coach, Brees's team lost its first four games.
Q 17Which quarterback beat Drew Brees to the 2018 MVP award in his first season as a starter?
Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes threw 50 touchdown passes for Kansas City that year. Brees, who set a completion percentage record the same season, finished as runner-up.
Q 18Which USC running back did the Saints draft number two overall in 2006, weeks after signing Drew Brees?
Reggie Bush
Reggie Bush and Brees arrived as the Saints returned to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and they reached the NFC title game in their first season.
Q 19Which surprise play opened the third quarter of Super Bowl XLIV and set up a Drew Brees touchdown drive?
An onside kick
An onside kick, a call the Saints nicknamed Ambush, had never before been tried in a Super Bowl ahead of the fourth quarter.
Q 20Scouts doubted Drew Brees's arm strength before the 2001 draft, along with which physical measurement?
Height
Height was the worry: at six feet he was short for a professional quarterback, and teams also wondered whether his college offense had flattered him.
Q 24Which Big Ten rival did Drew Brees beat in 2000 on a late 64-yard touchdown after four interceptions?
Ohio State
Ohio State lost 31–27 when Brees found Seth Morales with 1:55 left, and Purdue fans rushed the field. The win helped Purdue to its first Big Ten title since 1967.
Q 25Which national player of the year honor did Drew Brees win in 2000 while finishing third in Heisman voting?
Maxwell Award
The Maxwell Award capped a senior year in which he took Purdue to a share of the Big Ten title. He had also placed fourth in the Heisman race the season before.
Q 26Which future star of The O.C. was a flag football teammate of Drew Brees at an Austin school?
Ben McKenzie
Ben McKenzie, later Jim Gordon in Gotham, was in the same year as Brees at St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Brees did not play tackle football until high school.
Q 27Which veteran quarterback started every game in Drew Brees's rookie year, then lost the job to him?
Doug Flutie
Doug Flutie had been a boyhood idol of Brees and became his mentor. Brees's only rookie appearance came when the veteran left a game with a concussion.
Q 28Which NFL award did Drew Brees win in 2004 after keeping his job ahead of a highly drafted rookie?
Comeback Player of the Year
Comeback Player of the Year honors followed a 12–4 season with 27 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. A year earlier he had been benched during a 1–7 start.
Q 29Which team did Drew Brees's Saints beat in overtime to win the NFC and reach their first Super Bowl?
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings fell 31–28 to an overtime field goal. Brees passed for only 197 yards that day but threw three touchdowns.
Q 30Drew Brees wore number 9 throughout his NFL career in honor of which late baseball great?
Ted Williams
Ted Williams wore the same number for the Boston Red Sox and batted .406 in 1941, a mark no American or National League hitter has reached since.