New Orleans Saints: Case for Drew Brees as 2018 MVP

Even with the New Orleans Saints season officially over, there’s still a little bit of hope for Drew Brees to win MVP, and here’s why he deserves it the most.

The New Orleans Saints season came to an abrupt end via the hands…or rather the leg of the Los Angeles Rams. It was heartbreaking and disappointing, to say the least. The team had been through so much this season and it was hard to watch. Maybe it was due to the poor officiating but either way, the season ended way too early.

Thankfully for the Saints, there’s still a lot to be hopeful about. With the upcoming NFL Honors, the Saints have a chance at taking home a few awards. Most notably, many have lauded Drew Brees as the 2018 MVP while others prefer Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Donald. Regardless, the race is tight and could be decided by only a few votes.

Even though their season is over, Brees might not walk away empty-handed.

Starting off with his 2018 stats, Brees put together another solid year behind a talented offensive line and multiple targets. He finished the season with almost 4,000 yards passing, a 74.4 completion percentage and a 32-5 touchdown-interception ratio. In 2018, Brees had the highest completion percentage of his career. Almost three-quarters of the time he was passing, he was throwing completions.

Another noteworthy stat was his interceptions. Brees only threw for five, the second lowest in the league. For almost two months, Brees didn’t throw a single interception. It was just incredible to see the connection he had with his receivers. If anything, it made the case for naming him MVP even stronger.

Moving away from stats, there are two main reasons why I believe Brees deserves to be named MVP. The first reason is that Brees put together an incredible season at age 39. Putting together an MVP-caliber season isn’t easy and it doesn’t get any easier with age. At age 40, he led his team into the playoffs and once again, that’s no small feat.

While his age probably won’t play a huge role, it’s worth mentioning. Being an NFL player isn’t easy. A quarterback’s window doesn’t last forever and Brees is playing some of his best football now. Taking his age into account though, Brees is somewhat even fresher than he was when he was younger.

The second reason is how Brees led the team and handled adversity. The Saints ended up in some sticky situations and Brees always led the charge. He’s the heartbeat of the Saints and continued to show us each week. Despite their pitfalls, Brees continued to improve especially when it came to throwing tough passes, utilizing different receivers and putting trust in his defense to make a stop.

Overall, 2018 was a year for Drew Brees. As good as his season was, everyone’s laser-focused on Patrick Mahomes. While Mahomes was good, Brees only has a few seasons left, maybe only one. Brees deserves a graceful slide into retirement and being named 2018 MVP would be perfect.