Saints QB Brees announces retirement
NEW ORLEANS — The Drew Brees era with the New Orleans Saints — marked by a Super Bowl celebration, raucous record-setting nights in the rebuilt Superdome and the undersized quarterback’s outsized role in a historic city’s rebirth — has ended.
Brees, the NFL’s leader in career completions and yards passing, has decided to retire after 20 NFL seasons, including his last 15 with New Orleans.
“Til the very end I exhausted myself to give everything to the Saints organization, my team and the great city of New Orleans,” Brees said in social media post on Sunday, 15 years to the day after he signed with the Saints.
“We shared some amazing moments together, many of which are emblazoned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us,” Brees continued. “I am only retiring from football. I am not retiring from New Orleans. This is not goodbye.”
The post also included a short video in which his four young children — the three boys wearing No. 9 Saints jerseys — exclaimed, “Our dad is finally going to retire so he can spend more time with us!”
The decision comes after the 42-year-old quarterback won nine of 12 regular-season starts while completing 70.5% of his passes in 2020, and then won a wild-card round playoff game before New Orleans’ season ended with a divisional-round loss to eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay.
Brees missed four games this season with multiple fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. It marked the second straight season Brees had to miss part of a season with an injury after
missing just one game because of injury in the previous 13. In 2019, Brees missed five games because of a thumb injury on his throwing hand that required surgery.
Saints coach Sean Payton said Brees had plenty of other injuries or ailments during his Saints tenure, but willed himself to play through them whenever possible.
“Over the years his durability and availability is quite amazing. I can recall so many of these different injuries,” Payton said. “He’s as courageous and as tough a player as I’ve ever been around.”
Brees is the NFL’s all-time leader in yards passing with 80,358, although that mark will be under threat next season by 44-year-old Tom Brady, who has 79,204 career yards passing. Brees’ 571 career touchdown passes rank second behind Brady’s 581.
SOURCE: 49ERS AGREE TO 5-YEAR, $27M DEAL WITH JUSZCZYK
The San Francisco 49ers agreed on a five-year, $27 million contract with Kyle Juszczyk that will make him the highest paid fullback in the NFL.
A person familiar with the deal confirmed the terms of the new deal, one day before Juszczyk would be allowed to start talking to other teams before becoming an unrestricted free agent. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details haven’t been announced by the team.
The deal was first reported by NFL Network.
Juszczyk’s new contract tops the record he set for fullbacks back in 2017 when he signed a $21 million, four-year deal as one of the first additions made by coach Kyle Shanahan.
The Niners coveted Juszczyk’s versatility as a receiver and blocker in Shanahan’s offense and made sure he would stick around for several more years.
The 29-year-old Juszczyk scored a career-high six touchdowns last season with four coming on receptions and two more on runs. He finished the season with 19 catches for 202 yards and 64 yards rushing on 17 carries.
JONES STAYING WITH PACKERS ON 4-YEAR, $48 MILLION DEAL
Pro Bowl running back Aaron Jones has agreed to a new deal with the Green Bay Packers and won’t be exploring free agency.
Drew Rosenhaus, Jones’ agent, confirmed that his client had agreed on a four-year deal worth $48 million that includes a $13 million signing bonus.
“We anticipated bigger offers in free agency, but Aaron wanted to stay with the Packers,” Rosenhaus said via email.
ESPN and NFL Network first reported the terms.
Jones tweeted a picture of himself in a Packers uniform with the message “Let’s run it back #GoPackGo” on Sunday. Rosenhaus sent out a tweet congratulating Jones on his new deal.
The move removes one of the biggest names from the market at the start of a week in which NFL teams can begin negotiating with free agents. The Packers faced the possibility of having both of their top two running backs — Jones and Jamaal Williams — leaving via free agency in the same offseason.
MCKINNEY TRADED BY TEXANS TO DOLPHINS FOR LAWSON
Benardrick McKinney was traded Sunday by the Houston Texans to the Miami Dolphins for Shaq Lawson in a swap of linebackers.
McKinney played in only four games last year because of a shoulder injury, but missed just two starts with Houston from 2016 to 2019 while totaling at least 95 tackles each season, and made the Pro Bowl in 2018.
He was a second-round pick by the Texans in 2015.
Lawson, a 2016 first-round pick by the Buffalo Bills, spent four seasons with them. He had four sacks in 14 games in his only season with Miami.