He only had two scholarship offers. Kentucky and Purdue.

He chose Purdue because of academics.

He has donated millions to Purdue to help with their academics.

Also, while at Purdue Brees was a Two-time Academic All-America®
• 2000 Academic All-America® of the Year (across all university division sports)

Drew Brees was also inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame at the 2016 convention in Dallas, Texas.

quote:
"It is a tremendous honor to be inducted into the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame alongside so many distinguished people. I've learned tremendous life lessons from athletics but the opportunities I've had to make an impact in the classroom and in the community is where I take the most pride." – Drew Brees

Both Brees and Peyton Manning scored the same wonderlick score of 28.

A few ago Brees was ranked around 11th smartest in the NFL.

From that ranking

quote:
Like Gerhart, Brees was praised at the NCAA level for his academic achievement. He was named the Academic All-America Player of the Year in his senior year at Purdue, and graduated in 2001 with a degree in industrial management. The Chargers let Brees walk away via free agency in 2005 because of concerns they had about the severity of his shoulder injury. New Orleans took a chance on the quarterback, in a move that turned out to be one of the greatest free agent signings of all time. The Super Bowl champion as a member of the Saints was voted the league’s second-smartest player by Sports Illustrated in 2010.

quote:
Drew Brees: Multiple Deals Drew Brees receives over $13,000 for every endorsed tweet he makes to his estimated 2.4 million Twitter followers, according to Opendorse. The New Orleans Saints’ quarterback is a Super Bowl champion and has endorsement deals totaling more than $12 million a year according to Forbes. Brees’ deals include Nike, Proctor & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Wrangler. He also has a family foundation which has contributed over $25 million to charities in New Orleans and San Diego, the communities where Brees has played.

quote:
Drew Brees Net Worth: $155 Million Annual Salary & Endorsement Earnings : $45.3 Million (2018) He won his first major superbowl (XLIV) championship with (Saints) in year 2010. He played five season with (San Diego Chargers) after making debut in 2001 till 2005. After leaving them he signed a new lucrative deal with (New Orleans Saints). The deal make him the highest paid quarter-back in season 2015 and 2016. In 2018 he signed extended deal worth of $50 million. He earn guaranteed salary of $27 million in the upcoming season. In 2017, Brees get paid ($31.3 million) from yearly base salary contract. His earnings gets double after signing some top contract deals with endorsement companies such as (Nike, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Advocare, Wrangler, Verizon and Microsoft). In 2010, super bowl final (Drew Brees) awarded with (Most Valuable Player).