METAIRIE, La. (WVUE) – Drew Brees took his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the weekend, but the celebration did not end in Canton.
A day after Brees became the first player in Saints history selected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, fans at Saints training camp were still talking about the quarterback who led New Orleans to its first Super Bowl championship.
The Who Dat Nation traveled to Ohio in force for Saturday’s enshrinement. Saints long snapper Zach Wood, who also attended, said the black-and-gold crowd was so loud that the stadium in Canton felt like the Superdome during Brees’ playing days.
Brees used his enshrinement speech to reflect on the connection.
“If you love New Orleans, it’ll love you back. There is no truer statement,” Brees said. “To the Who Dat Nation, there are a few events in your life when you remember exactly where you were when it occurred. For Saints fans, it is the Steve Gleason blocked punt on Monday Night Football, reopening of the Dome September 25, 2006, and when the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.”
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By Sunday morning, the focus had shifted back to the current Saints and training camp in Metairie. But Brees’ words were still resonating with fans watching the next generation.
“The Saints make me happy inside,” young fan Deacon Town said.
Town already is watching the team’s current offense closely.
“Chris Olave and Tyler Shough have good chemistry together. They’re the duo,” Town said. “We’ve got good wide receivers and hopefully Tyler Shough makes his throws.”
Shough now plays the position Brees defined in New Orleans for 15 seasons, giving the current Saints quarterback a Hall of Fame standard to follow.
Brees arrived in New Orleans in 2006 while recovering from a major shoulder injury and as the city continued rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.
During Saturday’s speech, he described what the relationship with New Orleans came to mean.
“Storms teach us that our greatest treasures aren’t the things we own. They’re the people we love,” Brees said.
He later addressed the city directly.
“New Orleans, you accepted me, you embraced me, you believed in me, but more importantly, you trusted me with the soul of the city, and I would have died to protect that calling,” Brees said.
Fans at training camp said that connection helped make Brees more than a quarterback.
“I feel like if it wasn’t for him, the city wouldn’t have been reunited like it was,” Brandon Baham said.
Nicholas Chauvin said Brees has “been my favorite quarterback since he started.”
The bond reached its defining football moment in February 2010, when Brees led the Saints past the Indianapolis Colts for the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship.
“I remember where I was when we won the Super Bowl,” Baham said. “I was with my little brother and it was one of the best weekends of my life.”
Bryan Chandler described Brees as “just the heart and soul of New Orleans.”
“He’d die for it and he did,” Chandler said.
Alan Moody called Brees’ enshrinement address “a very inspiring speech.”
The celebration also stretched far beyond New Orleans.
“We’re from the Shreveport area and everybody up there is a Cowboys fan,” Kevin Davis said. “I’ve never been. I’ve always been a die hard Saints fan.”
For fans watching the current Saints practice Sunday, Brees’ Hall of Fame weekend connected two eras of the franchise — the team he helped transform and the one now trying to build its own future.
Brees ended his speech with the same words that followed him throughout his years in New Orleans.
“God bless you and Who Dat?”
Fans at training camp had the answer.
“Who Dat!”
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