WATCH: The Drew Brees era comes to an end with retirement official

In a day that many have dreaded and will never forget, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has officially announced his retirement.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback closes the books on his NFL playing career as a one-time Super Bowl champion and MVP as well as the current all-time leader in completed passes and passing yardage. With the latter, he was also the first player to throw for more than 80,000 career yards.

His five 5,000 yard seasons and numerous years atop the completion percentage charts each season will pave the way to a very likely first-ballot Hall of Fame induction and will forever be evoked when we look back at one of the best to every play the position in the history of the NFL.

For the Saints, with the announcement official, they will begin their transition out of the Drew Brees era and into the next chapter of the Saints history books, and potentially the Jameis Winston era.

Now that Brees’s retirement is public, it also frees up the Saints to navigate free agency a little more freely without respectful concern of signaling the decision before Brees was ready to make it. A lot was being made of the time it was taking for the announcement to come, but with a near $24M pay cut in the bag already, it seemed inevitable enough to wait for the time to be absolutely right.

Moving ahead throughout the offseason, the Saints will look to try to maintain key pieces, sign new contributors, and draft young players who will help formulate the future in the Big Easy post-Brees. All with the intent of remaining competitive as quickly as next season.

Losing an all-time caliber quarterback like Drew Brees will come with it’s bumps and bruises for certain, but the Saints will look to press on and find success after 15 season of some of the most consistent quarterback play witness in the NFL.

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