CGC Featured Card of the Month: 2001 Topps #328 Drew Brees Rookie Card

Sport: Football

Set: 2001 Topps

Card: #328 Drew Brees Rookie Card

What makes it special? For 20 pro seasons, quarterback Drew Brees was one of the most consistent passers and team leaders in the NFL. Starting out his career with the San Diego Chargers, who selected the Purdue QB with the first pick of the second round during the 2001 NFL Draft, Brees would spend most of his NFL years with the New Orleans Saints after signing with the team in 2006. At the historically underachieving franchise, Brees not only turned things around for New Orleans, but he became one of the most decorated individual players in NFL history while wearing a Saints uniform.

Brees threw for 4,000-plus yards every season from 2006 to 2017, passing the 5,000-yard mark five times in that span. After that many years of high-production passing, the quarterback broke numerous NFL records (although Tom Brady broke many of these just a few years later). Brees is second all-time in career passing yards, career touchdown passes and career pass completions, and he is ranked third in career completion percentage. The Saints quarterback still holds the record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 54 games, which broke Johnny Unitas' record that stood for 52 years.

After spending his last 15 seasons in New Orleans, Brees holds basically every major individual record in franchise history for a single game or career, including passing yards, passing touchdowns, pass completions, pass attempts, completion percentage and more. He led the league in passing yards a record seven times, led the league in touchdowns four times and had the highest completion percentage in a single season of all time (74.4%). Brees earned 13 Pro Bowl selections, was twice named Offensive Player of the Year, won Super Bowl XLIV and was named Super Bowl MVP.

Recently, the NFL recognized Brees' amazing career when it announced his name among the Hall of Fame inductees for the Class of 2026. A first ballot Hall of Famer, Brees will headline the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony when he enters Canton in August as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

Did you know? Prior to Brees' arrival in New Orleans, the Saints franchise struggled to find success for decades. That changed overnight with Brees under center. In the almost four decades before Brees played for the Saints, New Orleans only earned seven winning seasons in 39 years. During his first season with the team, Brees led the Saints to their eighth winning season and only their third division title, putting the league on notice and giving a small glimpse of what was to come.

With Brees at the helm, he led the Saints to unprecedented success, making them annual playoff contenders during his time in New Orleans. From 2006 to 2020, Brees captained the Saints to seven division titles, which included four in a row from 2017 to 2020. The team made nine playoff appearances, earned nine playoff wins, made three NFC Championship Game appearances and brought the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl title to New Orleans in 2009.

Total graded by CGC Cards: There are 165 graded examples of the standard card in the CGC Cards Population Report, as of early February 2026.

CGC Cards median grade: CGC 8.5

CGC Cards highest graded: Out of 165 total graded examples, 12 have earned CGC Gem Mint 10, while no cards have received the coveted CGC Pristine 10 grade.

Sales highlights: A few examples of the 2001 Topps #328 rookie card have sold through Fanatics Collect, including one graded CGC 9.5 that sold on the platform in October 2022 for $64.80. Additional examples that sold on the platform include one graded CGC 9 that realized $48 in June 2022 and another graded CGC 8 that realized $21.60 in January 2023.

CGC Cards Registry: This card is part of the Competing Football - Player Sets - Drew Brees category, where the first-place set has a 2001 Topps #328 Drew Brees graded CGC 8.5.

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