Few names–Lil Wayne aside–are as synonymous with New Orleans as Drew Brees. The Super Bowl-winning quarterback didn’t just play for the Saints—he became part of the city’s fabric, leading on and off the field. When he joined the organization in 2006, six months after Hurricane Katrina, he and his wife saw the devastation firsthand and immediately committed to helping rebuild. “It was like, ‘Hey, what are the greatest needs of the community right now?’” Brees recalls. Over the years, the family has donated millions to support the city, ensuring families could thrive in a stronger New Orleans. “I want everybody to know that whatever we say we're going to do, we're going to do,” he says.
Now, he’s showing love to his city once again—this time with Mercedes-Benz, starring in their new campaign for the all-electric G580. The campaign embodies the distinct energy of New Orleans, as he takes the all-new G580 with EQ Technology for a drive, reminiscing about his journeys to the Superdome. A longtime fan of the G-Wagon, Brees tells Complex, “We've driven [the G class] as a family for almost 10 years.”
In our conversation, he shares what makes driving in New Orleans special (yes, even the potholes), how the quarterback position has evolved since his playing days, and his thoughts on the Saints’ new head coach. Plus, he reveals how his kids keep him up to speed on rap beefs, the surprising song that used to get him hyped before games, and why he’s 100% ready for a Top Gun cameo.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
The Mercedes-Benz G580 is the first all-electric G-class. Can you talk a bit about why you partnered with Mercedes on an all-electric vehicle?
Well, first off, I think the Mercedes G class is just iconic. It's been around for a long time. I think just that body style is something that people have always gravitated towards and shoot, we've driven it as a family, the G class, for almost 10 years. So the fact that they've come out with an all-electric version and I had a chance to drive around New Orleans in it recently was pretty awesome.
I've always loved the way that it handles, but to think that you've got that type of power, that type of maneuverability, and just that look and feel and design on an all-electric vehicle is really cool. I think it totally ushers in the next generation.
Is it the look, is it the handling? What's your favorite thing about driving the G580?
It's got some juice, it's got some power, and it handles all those potholes in New Orleans pretty well, so that's good.
The campaign is, at its core, a love letter to New Orleans. What is it about driving through the city, potholes and all, that is so special to you?
New Orleans just has so much character. Obviously going back to 2006 when my wife and I moved there, and then all that we accomplished as a team there with the community. All four of our kids were born in New Orleans and raised in New Orleans, and there's just so many memories everywhere, from the neighborhood restaurants that we would always visit to Audubon Park, to Tulane University right there, to the beautiful drive along St. Charles heading through the Garden district to downtown. It's just one of the most, I think, therapeutic drives for me. I think it's like quintessential New Orleans with the big beautiful oak trees, and most of the time, you can find beads hanging down from a tree or a power line just still lingering from Mardi Gras and other celebrations along that corridor.
So just all those things. There's so much history, there's so much character, so many memories, and there's nothing like a beautiful day in New Orleans.
I love that. You alluded to it a little, but I recall you being such a central figure in the city's recovery after Katrina. I actually came down from New York and volunteered for a week when I was 17, so I remember it really, really vividly. What do you think the city taught you about resilience?
That you can, as a community, you can overcome anything together. When everyone leans on one another and is there to lend a helping hand, it's amazing what you can overcome and what you can accomplish. And I think just that mindset of always coming back stronger from setbacks or hardships or adversity, which obviously, the Gulf Coast region has faced a lot of that over the last 20 years with hurricanes and BP oil spill, you name it.
It's a very resilient community that just continues to respond, continues to come back stronger, and I think that's what resonates with the rest of the country about the region as well.
Do you have a memory that was your “welcome to New Orleans” moment? You came at such a pivotal time in the community and in your career. Is there a moment that sticks out?
I think the thing that we're super proud of is when we first got to New Orleans, a lot of it was just understanding what the region had been through and then where we could insert ourselves to help. It's like, Hey, what are the greatest needs of the community right now? So many people had been displaced, lost their homes, schools had been flooded out. At the end of the day, you're thinking, okay, if you're a family who's been displaced and you're thinking about what you're going to do now, the only thing that's going to bring you back to New Orleans is you have to know that there's a safe place for the family and your kids. Where are they going to school? Where are they playing? What athletic programs? Just all the things that you think about that kind of make up the community.
And so immediately it was like, all right, well, we've got to rebuild schools, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, childcare programs, all these things. You immediately start finding out who those people are and all the people that are trying to do the exact same thing, who maybe are underfunded, under-resourced, and just kind of need some support in that way.
Within the first year, we identified 12 projects to the tune of $1.8 million, and it was all rebuilding the things that I just mentioned: schools, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, childcare programs, and it was like, all right, either this money's coming out of my pocketor we're going to go raise the money, but we are committing to doing this. Bottom line is I want everybody to know that whatever we say we're going to do, we're going to do.
And so we identified those projects, we were able to raise the money, and we funded those all and, within 12 months, all of them were open and operational.And so that was that big first step in number one, integrating ourselves into the community and addressing the greatest needs. Number two, proving that we were going to back up what we said we were going to do. Because look, every disaster, every natural disaster, everybody runs in I think with the best of intentions, but I think in a lot of cases people probably see, Hey, money came in, where did it go? And there wasn't this clear visibility as to where it went and who it helped and that kind of thing. And so we wanted to make sure that everybody knew that they could trust us and we were right alongside them.
We had bought a house right in the middle of uptown, right in the heart of where a lot of the devastation was, and so the idea was like, Hey, we just want to be in this with everybody else.
It's incredible. I just remember your impact so vividly during that time, so just huge kudos to you.
Pivoting a little bit to talk some football: Kellen Moore, obviously fresh off a Super Bowl victory in the Big Easy, is now head coach of the Saints. Your time in the league overlapped as players. Did you ever run into each other as players and have you had a chance to connect now that he's the coach?
I reached out to him obviously to say congratulations. I really haven't spent any time with him prior to this. Obviously, look, I was a fan of his when he was coming out of Boise State. I thought what he accomplished there was remarkable. I think he won more games in college than any other person in history at a place where they were always stepping on the field outmatched at Boise, so I respected that.
Obviously, he had a short stint in the NFL as a backup. You could tell he was just one of these cerebral minds, though, who was probably on the fast track to become a coordinator and then obviously a head coach now. I think it's an opportunity that's well deserved. I think he's going to do a great job. I like the staff he's put together, so time will tell, but I think he's got some good pieces in place. I think he's excited about Derrick. He’s got a quarterback who can distribute the ball. He’s got some playmakers. Our defense has been a top-10 defense for the last, what, eight years? So I think they're in a really good spot.
How do you think the quarterback position has evolved since you entered the league?
Well, I mean, when I entered the league in ‘01, the offenses were a bit more traditional in the perspective of, hey, it was pro-style or it was West Coast offense. You were under center a lot more in the run game, and play-action shotgun was kind of reserved for third down. Now it's a lot of these offenses are exclusively shotgun.
The quarterback position is probably even more athletic and is incorporated into the run game even more than it used to be. You've got the RPO game, the run-pass-option game–which was not a thing back when I first came in–this ability to, Hey, we're going to hand the ball off. Nope, quarterback's going to pull it and run. Nope, he's going to distribute it. It's like this triple threat on every run play. So that's different.
It's a different scheme schematically, just how things are done now, and therefore, I think as a QB coming into the league, it's really required that you have the ability to run the football, extend plays with your legs, unlike the days of just the super traditional pocket passer. Those days are gone. That's a skillset you still need to have. But I think just the position overall is probably much more athletic.
Is there any part of you that wants to wishes you could get in a game and see how your style of play would fare these days?
I'd kill it. I would kill it.
You think?
I'm just kidding. Yeah, look, this is fun. I coach my kids and their friends, I coach the local high school here. So I actually take all the stuff that I've experienced through my career, and I still have the databases for all the NFL games, so I can go pull up any NFL game I want and watch it. And I steal plays all the time, so I still feel like I'm right in the thick of it.
*laughs*I love that. What's the best advice you've given these young athletes that you're coaching up?
Be a great teammate, first and foremost. Bring value to the team. I keep it pretty simple.
And then what's one lesson–it might be to be a great teammate–but what's one lesson from football that you've found surprisingly useful in just everyday life?
The discipline. The discipline and structure of football and the game is probably what guys struggle with the most when they leave the game; the fact that during the season for seven months, every day you wake up, you know exactly what you're tasked to do and your schedule, you know your routine, and you just do it. That's the discipline part of it, similar to maybe somebody in the military. And then when you get out of that, it's like, oh, shoot. You’ve got to kind of create a new routine or create new goals and objectives and that becomes the next chapter.
So I'd say that's the part where you can take the learnings of being a pro athlete and the discipline and the focus and the intentionality that comes along with that and apply it to your next chapter.
It's Complex, so I need to know. What music have you been listening to lately?
I listen to ‘80s, ‘90s alternative, and then whatever rap music my kids play in the car.
Did they have a lot of feelings about the halftime show and the Drake/Kendrick beef?
Oh yeah. They love Kendrick, and yeah, they are actually the ones who informed me about the beef between Kendrick and Drake. We actually had a dinner conversation about that the other day where they just kind of outlined the timeline for me. It was very informative. I appreciate that.
It keeps you in the know. You found out after the halftime show, about the beef?
I mean, I knew about it, but I just didn't know the timeline. I didn't know all the details. Obviously I know the lyrics in the song, but yeah, it's just funny how much kids know versus what their parents know.
Truly, I do not look forward to those days. Was there one song going into a game that was your hype-up song at the time?
Here's the thing. Everybody kind-of has their way of getting ready for games. A lot of guys listen to music just to tune stuff out and maybe get in the zone. I was always studying, I was studying my plan, I was visualizing. I would listen to music in the stadium, but it was more just white noise. My mind was elsewhere. But I've always loved, even to this day, the instrumental for Top Gun. Like the Top Gun anthem.
There's a scene in the movie where they're just walking out on the tarmac to get into the F18, and it's just the instrumental of that bass that just kind of hits every few seconds. The first 45 seconds of that song just get me pretty lit up.
It's so iconic. I mean, how could it not? If they were to ask you to tag in on Top Gun 3, would you make a cameo?
Absolutely. I can pull some Gs.
You want to be in the plane?
Well, I've flown in an F18 three times, flown in F16, F15–so I've flown in all of 'em. It's a top-five life experience. It's pretty awesome.
I mean, your athleticism is prepared for the G-Force. My body is not.
Oh yeah, they try to get you to pass out. You’ve got to learn that hick maneuver so you keep the blood in your head.
*laughs* I would be fully passed out within seconds.