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New Orleans Saints legends left off CBS Sports' NFL All-Quarter Century Offense

New Orleans Saints legends left off CBS Sports' NFL All-Quarter Century Offense

Yahooa day ago
The New Orleans Saints have had some of the best players in football over the past 25 years, but did they do enough to get recognized on a larger scale? How are they viewed from a bird's eye view?
CBS Sports' Bryan DeArdo recently built out the NFL's All-Quarter Century Offensive Team, and his group had zero Saints players on the actual team. Both Drew Brees and Jahri Evans were mentioned as 'honorable mentions,' but that's as far as New Orleans got. While it is very hard to be considered among the best of the best, both of those players had arguments to actually get included.
Tom Brady was the starter at quarterback, with both Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes being listed as reserves. That left Brees with Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger as the honorable mentions. During his 20-year career, completely contained within the 2000s, Brees is statistically in the top three. He had 80,358 yards with 571 touchdowns while completing 67.7% of his passes. He is second in yards, completions and touchdowns behind Brady. He even won a ring and arguably should have at least one MVP to his name.
The quarterback conversation is always going to come down to who is making the argument, but Brees certainly earned the right to be near the top of that conversation each time. There is a pretty clear case for him to be above both Rodgers and Manning, with Brady and Mahomes being the easy choices for the first two spots.
The starting offensive line included Joe Thomas, Alan Faneca, Jason Kelce, Zack Martin and Lane Johnson. That is a very solid group. Kevin Mawae, Jonathan Ogden, Steven Hutchinson, and Trent Williams were the reserves. Evans was the second honorable mention listed, behind Maurkice Pouncey.
Like Brees, Evans has a pretty clear resume that would lead many to believe that he should be higher on the list. He was a four-team All-Pro and a one-time second-teamer. Hutchinson, the reserve guard, did have one more first-team All-Pro nod, but Evans was the anchor for a Super Bowl team. Both are fantastic, though, and it's impossible to make a wrong choice between the two.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints great Drew Brees snubbed by CBS Sports All-Quarter Century Team
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