Drew Brees named to NFC Pro Bowl team

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been named to the NFC Pro Bowl team.

The former Purdue All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist replaces Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III.

For Brees, it marks his seventh Pro Bowl selection and his sixth as a member of the Saints. Among Purdue players, Rod Woodson is tops with 11 appearances, followed by Bob Griese with eight. Len Dawson also was picked seven times.

Brees is in his 12th NFL season and seventh with the Saints. This season, he started all 16 games and completed 422 of 670 passes (63 percent) for 5,177 yards with 43 touchdown passes and a 96.3 passer rating. He ranked first in the league in both passing yards and touchdown passes. Brees now owns two of the top three single-season passing yards totals in NFL history and three of the top five. Brees also joined Dan Marino as merely the second NFL signal-caller to throw for 40 touchdowns in two seasons.

In his 12-year NFL career, Brees, who originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in 2001, before signing with the Saints as an unrestricted free agent in 2006, has played in 170 games (169 starts), completing 4,035 of 6,149 passes (65.6 percent) for 45,919 yards, 324 touchdowns and a 94.3 passer rating. He is the NFL's third-most accurate passer all-time, while ranking fifth in completions, sixth in touchdown passes, seventh in passer rating and eighth in passing yards.

Brees attended the Heart of Dallas Bowl on Jan. 1, when the Boilermakers played Oklahoma State.