Drew Brees is now the all-time leading passer in the National Football League. He’s interesting because he is not big—officially 6’0”, but I’ve stood next to him, and there is no way Jose that Brees is 6’0”. He’s interesting because he was shown the door by two NFL teams, the Chargers and the Dolphins: unwanted, and now the best-ever. Rejecting Brees proved such a fiasco for Miami that it drove then-head coach Nick Saban back to the NCAA ranks. And Brees is interesting because coming out of high school he was not heavily recruited. He chose Purdue University, an engineering school, for its good academics.

Here’s another interesting thing about the all-time leading passer in pro football—he never played youth tackle. Until high school, Brees played flag football.