Drew Brees surprised dozens of his past and present receivers, offensive linemen, coaches and mentors this week with commemorative footballs and letters to recognize the part they played in him breaking the NFL career passing-yardage record.

"I wanted to do something for everybody," said the New Orleans Saints quarterback, who broke the record on Monday Night Football in Week 5 and has 73,908 career passing yards.

There are acts of charity and kindness that many athletes perform that certainly top this from a humanitarian aspect but this was just a pure class thing to do. He didn't need to and no one would have thought any less of him if he hadn't but it the timing and the effort and the thought I think will make it one of the most treasured gifts many of these 174 people will have ever received.

Originally Posted by: sschind 

Just out of curiosity I'd like to see a list of who got them and what for (catching passes, lineman, coaches etc.) Can you imagine having been in the NFL for two years and caught 2 passes from Drew Brees for 10 yards and getting one of these.

Much better than Isotoner gloves IMO.

As far as the ebay thing goes I thought of that to and its sad but true. If I were Brees and that happened I would buy them back and make no bones about where the seller can send them with these instructions to the seller.

Thank you for the opportunity to purchase this one of a kind gift originally given by someone with a true appreciation for what you did to help him accomplish what he did. You can send the ball to Drew Brees 1234 whatever wherever and I will keep it since it obviously means nothing to you.

Now I understand there may be other reasons such an item would end up on ebay and pure greed is only one of them. Some of these guys may be truly desperate for money and some may be for charity (although I'm thinking if anyone was doing it for charity he would likely contact Brees and knowing Brees he would offer to autograph it)

One thing is for sure if any do show up it won't be hard to figure out who is doing the selling.