Saints Can Drew Brees still throw it deep? (1 Viewer)

[Complex Kid]

If ur in shape, throwing 40-50 yards isn't that hard. I'm 48 and can still sling it

 

[SweetT]

I love how he grabs Kip’s steak?

 

[rsmith2783]

Yeah I agree. How many times did Ginn get under thrown last season?

I think that's a practice issue. I recall a few times he overthrew him.

 

[SpeckKillerII]

I think he still has it enough for what we need and want to do offensively. He still completes deep balls but some of these would have been touchdowns if they weren’t under thrown . I hate seeing the WR have to wait on the ball but at least he is still completing the passes.

 

[bearze34]

If the timing and route running is spot-on, you'll rarely have to throw more than 50 yds. in the air.

Drew can do that all day.

That is exactly the issue. It takes his pass a lot longer to cover those 50 yards than it used to. He makes up for it in the intermediate game with accuracy and experience. The deep pass is a rarely used feature anymore.

 

[Magic_Leather_Jacket]

The decline in interior OL play had a lot more to do with Brees underthrowing deep balls than any decline in his arm strength.

Yes this exactly. Brees arm is about as good as it’s always been. We just didn’t protect him towards the end of last year so he could set his feet. With the Oline depth we have this yr...look out

 

[St.Dan]

He can't hum it deep consistently anymore, but guess what? It doesn't matter! Neither can Brady; it doesn't matter for him, either. Their offenses are flexible enough now to where both can beat you in multiple ways. Hence our move to run the ball better the past two seasons, hence finally getting a bona fide TE in Jared Cook to catch the intermediate routes and take the heat off Michael Thomas, etc.

 

[Saint Kamara]

He's forty now so obviously he doesn't have the same muscle tone or recovery period from exhertion as he used to, but it's not really a massive drop off by any metric. The truth of the matter is that Drew Brees never had a powerful arm. Not by NFL standards. It was even a ding against him coming into the draft. He is the Greg Maddux of the NFL in that his performance level has always far surpassed his talent level.


Drew Brees' arm strength coming out (of Perdue) was below average at best




Quarterback Ball Velocity at NFL Combine 2008-2017


For the record, the only velocity number I can find for Brees is 54.7, placing him squarely in the "below average arm strength" category for essentially his entire career.

Weak arm and short stature means that Brees gets any power or velocity from his core. Not surprising that he concentrates on that very aspect of his game when training.


At 38 Years Old, Drew Brees Believes His Best Football is Still Ahead of Him




Brees' arm strength will forever be tied to his mechanics. Suggesting anything else is simply ignoring what we have known about him since college. For the record, I'm not a "Brees Forever" person either. He is at the very end of his career, and will, if he doesn't retire first, exhibit a marked decline in his on field performance. But I will always question when it is attributed to any perceived loss of arm strength, because he's never had any to speak of...

This should be required reading for every Saints fan.

 

[AL_Bundy]

Maybe Drew won't have to throw it deep very often. Have you seen Jared Cook after the catch? That's what I'm looking forward to this year. Cook's last year highlights were awesome after the catch. Jimmy Graham was great, but he went down pretty easy after the catch. Jared Cook is a sure nuff beast after he catches the ball. He's fast enough to outrun any linebackers, and big enough to just truck DB's.

 

[Jb25saints]

I think that's a practice issue. I recall a few times he overthrew him.

That was Taysom

 

[GeauxSainz]

It’s blasphemy around here to suggest that he can’t throw it 100 yards on his knees. But it’s natural that his arm strength has decreased a little bit over the years. He’s 40 for gods sake. Of course his arm strength has declined. That doesn’t mean he’s not great still. He can still clear 50 yards in the air And that’s good enough.

 

[sportsaint]

Maybe Drew won't have to throw it deep very often. Have you seen Jared Cook after the catch? That's what I'm looking forward to this year. Cook's last year highlights were awesome after the catch. Jimmy Graham was great, but he went down pretty easy after the catch. Jared Cook is a sure nuff beast after he catches the ball. He's fast enough to outrun any linebackers, and big enough to just truck DB's.

That sentence you said, I like it.

 

[HouseCall]

You can see where Vince Young got his throwing motion.

 

[mikaloyd]

Drew can throw it far enough to win

 

[Swimmer]

When younger, Brees long balls traveled around 45 to 50 yards in the air. His ball flight was low and the ball got to the receivers very quickly. He was lethally accurate with these to Devery and Meach.

The defender did not have time to turn back and locate the ball and because the ball flight was low, it made it even harder for the defensive back to locate the ball.

He threw one pass like that this year and had a huge pocket to step into. The other long passes I saw were a higher trajectory and the ball wobbled as it was coming down.

The only question is whether we can win another SB with Brees. And the answer is unequivocally "YES"!