The team eventually designated Brees a franchise player, giving him a one-year contract that quadrupled his pay to $ 8 million for 2005.

Under the terms of the franchise player contract, Brees was eligible to be traded or sign with another team, but the Chargers would receive two future first round draft choices in return.

After the season, the Chargers offered Brees a 5-year, $ 50 million contract that paid $ 2 million in base salary the first year and the rest heavily based on performance incentives.

On July 13, the Saints and Brees agreed to a 5 year, $ 100 million contract.

Ramsey signed a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints on July 28, 2010 ; he was projected to serve as a veteran backup for the Saints ' starting quarterback, Drew Brees, filling the role vacated by Mark Brunell who was not re-signed after the 2009 season.

Manning's Colts defeated the Chargers in 1998 and 1999, but in 2004 with Leaf long gone from the game the revamped Chargers behind Drew Brees erupted into playoff contention ; on December 26 with both teams at 11-3 the Colts hosted the Chargers with Manning close to matching Dan Marino's touchdown record ; the Chargers stormed to a 31-16 lead, but Dominic Rhodes ' kickoff return put the Colts within eight points, then with one minute remaining Manning rifled a 21-yard touchdown to Brandon Stokley, breaking Marino's record ; the two-point try succeeded, then after Brees was intercepted the game went to overtime and the Colts won 34-31 on a field goal.

* Passing Touchdowns: 6 Billy Kilmer ( November 2, 1969 at St. Louis Cardinals ) & Drew Brees ( September 13, 2009 vs Detroit Lions )

Drew Brees, who received the majority of snaps at quarterback during Rivers ' hold out, would retain the starting quarterback position.

He threw for 3, 969 yards, a then-franchise record 35 touchdown passes with only 10 interceptions, completed an 70. 28 percent of his passes — the highest completion percentage of the 1990s, third all-time, and at the time, the best completion percentage by any quarterback with more than 400 attempts ( later eclipsed by Drew Brees in 2009 ).

Brees has the highest career completion percentage among all quarterbacks in NFL history with at least 2, 500 + attempts – 65. 94 %.

Brees is currently tied all-time with consecutive games with at least 1 TD pass – 47 ( 2009 – present ), with Johnny Unitas, who threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games ( between 1956 – 1960 ), a record which has remained unsurpassed for 52 years.

The next week, Brees threw for 308 yards on 25 of 33 passing along with two touchdowns and one interception in leading the Saints to a 35 – 27 victory and franchise tying best start at 7 – 0 against the rival Atlanta Falcons.

In 2011, Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's 27 year-old record for most passing yards in one season ( 5, 084 ) in the 15th game of the season ( week 16 ) against the Atlanta Falcons at home in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with a TD pass to Darren Sproles.

With the 79 yard TD pass to Devery Henderson in the 2nd quarter, Brees extended his streak of games with at least one passing TD to 29, which is 1 game behind Dan Marino and 7 behind Brett Favre, who both have 30 and 36 games with at least one TD pass thrown respectively.

In week 3 against the Houston Texans, Brees threw 3 touchdown passes to extend his streak to 30 games with at least one passing TD, tying Dan Marino.

In week 7 against the Indianapolis Colts, Brees threw 5 touchdown passes to extend his streak to 34 games with at least one passing TD.

In week 16 against the Atlanta Falcons, on 12 / 26 / 2011 at 10: 35 pm New Orleans time at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Brees broke Dan Marino's long standing record of passing yards in a year of 5, 084 with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles with just under 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter of the game.

With that TD pass, Brees tied Johnny Unitas ' consecutive game streak with at least 1 TD pass which has stood unbroken for more than 52 years.

In 2009 he appeared in all 16 games as the holder on the Saints place-kicking unit, and saw his first playing time at quarterback in 3 years during a week 17 loss to the Carolina Panthers, as the Saints had already clinched homefield advantage and rested starter Drew Brees, as well as many other starters.

Similarly, during the 2011 Saints 63-7 victory, while the margin of victory was very large and the game was almost beyond doubt at half-time, Drew Brees had thrown a below his average number of yards.

With the departure of Drew Brees during the offseason, it was assumed that Gates would suffer a decline in production in 2006, with first-year starter Philip Rivers at the helm.

During the 1985 season, Everett led the NCAA in total offense ( 3, 589 yards ), which at the time was a school record ( since broken by Drew Brees ).

Brees completed five consecutive passes for 58 yards on the drive and capped it off with a ' check-down ' pass to Pierre Thomas on the right side, who took it 16 yards to the end zone behind blocks from Jonathan Goodwin, Jahri Evans, Devery Henderson, Kyle Eckel, Carl Nicks and Jeremy Shockey, to give the Saints their first lead of the game at 13 – 10.

On their ensuing drive, the Chargers mounter a scoring threat by moving the ball to the Jets 37-yard line, but Reggie Tongue intercepted a pass from Brees and the score remained tied at halftime.

He attempted to start the relationship with his new team on a good note, telling the Associated Press shortly after that trade, " The Saints have a lot of weapons, starting with Drew Brees, and I look forward to joining my teammates at training camp.

The Chargers would go on to lose their season finale to the Broncos, with Brees suffering a dislocated shoulder to end the Chargers ' 9 – 7 season.

Brees also tied the record for most touchdown passes by the end of week 2 with 9.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Brees was selected to his fifth Pro Bowl ( fourth as a Saint ) and was voted the No. 9 NFL player of 2011 by his peers.

Additionally, Gates was on the receiving end of a 33 yard pass from teammate Drew Brees in a flea-flicker play selected by fans online.

Following an 8-yard catch and run by Bush, Brees completed passes to Colston, Robert Meachem and tight end David Thomas, moving the ball to the 5-yard line.

After a 3-yard run by Pierre Thomas, Brees threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey.

After Tomlinson was tackled for a 1-yard loss, A fourth-down pass Brees with under 20 seconds left fell incomplete into the end zone, but Jets linebacker Eric Barton was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the Chargers a first down from the one-yard line.

The NFC made one final drive late in the game, but Vick was intercepted ( the third pick of the game for the AFC ) by Nate Clements, and Drew Brees kneeled to end the game.

Drew Brees ended the 2008 season just 16 yards short of beating Dan Marino's single-season record of 5084 total passing yards.

To cap off the season, quarterback Drew Brees broke the single season passing record held for over 25 years, on the way to a Saints division winning game.

Despite an abrupt ending to their season, Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year for the season, and Brees was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

In the regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills, Brady became the fourth quarterback to throw for 5, 000 yards in a single season, finishing with 5, 235 ; it surpassed Dan Marino's longstanding record of 5, 084 passing yards, but finished the season second behind Drew Brees ' 5, 476.

Brees holds the NFL single-season record for most passing yards in a season by a quarterback, with 5, 476 yards, which he accomplished during the 2011 season.

That year Brees also set NFL records for highest completion percentage in a season – 71. 2 %, most 300 + yard passing games in a season – 13, and most completions in a season – 468.

As a high school football player, Brees completed 314 of 490 passes ( 64. 1 percent ) for 5, 461 yards with 50 touchdowns including, in his senior season, 211 of 333 passes ( 63. 4 percent ) for 3, 528 yards with 31 touchdowns.

Brees started all 16 games for the Chargers during the 2002 season, leading the team to an 8-8 record.

Brees therefore remained the starter throughout the 2004 season, where he started 15 games and led the team to a 12-4 regular season record.

Brees became a free agent after the season and was not expected to return to San Diego, which had already committed a large sum of money to Rivers.

However, in the last game of the 2005 season against the Denver Broncos, Brees tore his labrum while trying to pick up his own fumble after being hit by Broncos safety John Lynch.

The following season Brees passed for 4423 yards and tied a then team record with 28 touchdowns.

In 2008, the Saints again missed the playoffs but Brees had a strong year statistically, finishing 15 yards short of the NFL record for passing yards thrown in a single season set by Dan Marino in 1984.