WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia — Drew Brees has said it multiple times.
A smile often forms on his face before the words come out. The crowd chuckles. His audience doesn’t believe it can be done.
But make no mistake: That smile isn’t meant to signal that Brees’ words are sarcastic. He thinks he can play well into his 40s, if not hit his stated goal of 45.
This is a real mission for him.
“We’re trying to beat the aging process,” Brees said.
Can it be done? No one knows. Historical data say no. Elite quarterbacks used to peak in their mid-20s, sustain it for a few years, and then the game would quit on them sometime in the following decade.
But historical football and the old way of thinking about things could be facing extinction — at least when it comes to elite quarterbacks.
The game has changed. Quarterbacks are more protected by the rules than ever. Science has changed the way players train and prepare their bodies.
If Brees wanted, he could slip on a virtual reality headset and watch every snap he took during practice while recovering in a cryochamber. That’s something that could happen right now, in minutes. The Saints already have the technology in place.
Joe Montana, on the other hand, played during an era when someone would get his “bell rung” and be told to rub some dirt on his bumps and bruises.
This is a different game.
“I think we’ve seen the health and training element that I think would contribute more to that than anything else,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “It wasn’t long ago, we as players weren’t allowed to drink water until the end of practice. We just didn’t know.”
Players know now.
They know how to take care of their bodies and use science to make sure everything is always finely tuned and working at peak performance. Brees’ coaches and teammates often talk about how maniacal he is about his health and conditioning, and he stays on top of his mechanics by working with throwing coach Tom House.
That might be his secret weapon.
It’s probably not a coincidence that Brees and the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady both work with House, who is known to use motion sensors to players that help detect inefficiencies undetectable by the naked eye. If even the smallest thing is off, House will spot it and figure out a way to fix it.
When Brees injured his labrum early last season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, House was one of the people he consulted when working his way back. Despite early reports that he would miss multiple weeks, the Saints quarterback was back in action after one week. He finished the season with 4,870 passing yards.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how important he’s been to me in my career,” Brees said of House, the former major league pitcher. “Not only preparing myself physically but mentally and emotionally and psychologically to play each year and to play this long. Do I think that he has helped with longevity? Yes. Without question.
“I think that’s part of the training that we do together. Making sure that I can sustain at the level I want to be at, playing at a high level for as long as I want to.”
Can every quarterback who achieves a certain level of talent and remain dedicated to his craft dream the same dream?
No elite quarterback to rise during this era has made it to the finish line without major injury. Peyton Manning just called it quits at 39, adding credence to the naysayers who think remaining elite into your 40s is nuts.
It just doesn’t happen very often. Brett Favre posted a career-best 107.2 passer rating at 40 and was done as an effective player the next season. Montana finished peaking at 33 and was out of the league by 38. John Elway and Dan Marino finished at the same age.
This is the way quarterbacks age. But the difference is, Manning fought off the effects of a potentially career-ending neck injury and played many games without feeling in his hand. Brees and Brady also have suffered some big injuries during their careers — Brees with his shoulder and Brady with a torn ACL — but both have already answered and buried any lingering concerns about their health long ago.
Brees has shown few signs of slowing down and will turn 38 later this year. Brady, meanwhile, turns 39 next month, and he is coming off a season in which he completed 64.4 percent of his passes for 4,770 yards with 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
It’s quite possible that we’re now seeing how the changes in technology and sports science — as well as the new rules that protect quarterbacks from enduring the kind of hits Steve Young and previous generations of quarterbacks used to absorb — manifest in longer peaks for elite quarterbacks.
It’s also possible that these guys will age rapidly and fade back toward the back in short order. The truth is, it’s hard to know how quarterbacks age in the modern era. It could be different. It could be the same as it’s always been. Only time knows the answer.
Former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert is among those who isn’t sure what to think. He points to Warren Moon, who kept playing well into his 40s as an example of someone who has been there before. Hebert also knows that taking fewer hits and avoiding injury can extend careers.
But he isn’t ready to say that Brady and Brees are the start of a new trend. It’s possible they’re just outliers.
“It might give them a couple more years,” Hebert said when asked if he thought the new rules could change the way quarterbacks age. “You look at Brady, he’s going to be 39, and he isn’t going anywhere. Brees isn’t going anywhere. It might help. I think the main thing is that these guys are going to have a better quality of life and fewer issues after football.”
The truth is, it will take time to find out the answer to these issues. The problem is, the Saints don’t have a lot of time.
With Brees entering the final year of his contract, perhaps the hardest part of navigating the negotiations is determining how long to extend his deal and the level of which the final years of the contract will be guaranteed.
There’s a good chance Brees, given how he’s played and takes care of his body, is confident about those later years. When asked about Brees’ age and how it factors into negotiations, general manager Mickey Loomis declined to comment, but the Saints probably hold some reservations about giving him hefty guarantees.
The historical data say to be leery of the immediate future. The current evidence, at least as it pertains to Brees, should cause one to question conventional wisdom.
Is playing until 45 a realistic option for Brees? Maybe. Maybe not. But what about 40 or 41, which is what matters right now?
That’s probably not something anyone should laugh at — especially because Brees is on a mission.
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