Aaron Brooks (American football)
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Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Newport News, Virginia, U.S. | March 24, 1976||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 220 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Ferguson (Newport News) | ||||||||
College: | Virginia (1994–1998) | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1999 / Round: 4 / Pick: 131 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com |
Aaron Lafette Brooks (born March 24, 1976) is an American former
Brooks' most successful season was in 2000 when he led the Saints to their first playoff victory in franchise history. For his accomplishments with the franchise, he was inducted to the
Early years
Brooks lived in a
College career
Brooks enrolled at the University of Virginia in the fall of 1994 and was a
Brooks was the starter in 1997. Both Brooks and the team struggled in the early part of the season but surged late to finish the season with a 7–4 record. In 1998, the team got off to a strong start and was briefly in the top ten. The highlight of the year, and Brooks' career, was the season finale at Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers were down 29–7 at halftime, but Brooks led the biggest comeback in school history in the 36–32 victory. The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 9–2 record, which earned them an invitation to the Peach Bowl where they suffered a 35–33 defeat at the hands of Georgia.
Statistics
Virginia Cavaliers | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | TD | ||||||
1995 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -100.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
1996 | 37 | 89 | 517 | 1 | 7 | 78.3 | 30 | 65 | 4 | |||||
1997 | 164 | 270 | 2,282 | 20 | 7 | 151.0 | 85 | 255 | 5 | |||||
1998 | 168 | 322 | 2,545 | 15 | 10 | 127.7 | 97 | 320 | 6 | |||||
Total | 369 | 683 | 5,344 | 36 | 25 | 129.8 | 212 | 640 | 14 |
Professional career
Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle |
Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Wonderlic
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 ft 3+1⁄2 in (1.92 m) |
203 lb (92 kg) |
32 in (0.81 m) |
9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) |
4.53 s | 1.54 s | 2.62 s | 4.29 s | 7.52 s | 35+1⁄2 in (0.90 m) |
10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) |
17[5] | |
All values from |
Green Bay Packers
In 1999, Brooks began his career as a third-string backup to Brett Favre behind second-string quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, taking no snaps during the regular season.
New Orleans Saints
The Packers traded Brooks and tight end Lamont Hall to the New Orleans Saints for linebacker K. D. Williams and the Saints' third round pick in the 2001 draft ahead of the 2000 season.[8]
In his first season with the Saints, Brooks took over as starting quarterback after Jeff Blake was sidelined with a broken foot in the team's 11th game of the season. In his first NFL start, Brooks led the Saints to a 31–24 victory over the St. Louis Rams, becoming the first QB in NFL history to defeat the defending Super Bowl champions on the road in his first career start. Brooks led the team to a 3–2 record in his five starts for an overall 10–6 record, winning the NFC West. In the playoffs, the Saints defeated the Rams, 31–28. The Saints were without their starting running back, Ricky Williams, and lost their best receiver, Joe Horn, early in the game. Brooks threw four touchdown passes to lead the Saints to their first playoff win in franchise history, becoming the first QB in NFL history to eliminate the defending Super Bowl champions in his first career postseason start.[9] The Saints then lost their Divisional Playoff game to the Minnesota Vikings, 34–16.
In 2001, the Saints went 7–9, ending on a four-game losing streak. In those last four games of the season, the Saints would be outscored by more than 100 points, 160–52. Brooks threw a then franchise record-tying 26 touchdowns and a career best 3,832 passing yards in his first full season as a starting quarterback; he also threw a then-franchise record 22 interceptions.
In 2002, Brooks lead the Saints to a 6–2 record and guided an offense that averaged 32 points a game through the first half of the season before the team imploded in the second half. The Saints went 3–5 to finish the season, losing their last three games to teams eliminated from playoff contention.
2003 was Brooks' most efficient year, compiling an 88.8 passer rating, a 3:1 touchdown to interception ratio, and a 59.1% completion rate, all career bests. However, the Saints finished 8–8 and did not make the playoffs.
In 2004, the Saints started 4–8, but finished the season with a four-game winning streak. The Saints almost made the playoffs but lost out on tiebreakers. Brooks threw twice as many interceptions as previous year, with 16, and this was the final year Brooks threw for more than 3,000 in a season.
In late 2005, after losing to the Falcons, the Saints benched Brooks and announced Todd Bouman as the team's starter for the last three games of the season. It was a poor year for Brooks, who threw 17 interceptions and 13 touchdowns.
Oakland Raiders
After being released by the Saints, Brooks was signed by the Oakland Raiders in March 2006. He was the starter going into training camp. In his first regular season game as a Raider, he was sacked 9 times by the San Diego Chargers in a 27–0 loss. Brooks dislocated his shoulder in his second game against the Baltimore Ravens and missed the next several weeks. Second-year quarterback Andrew Walter started the next seven games for Oakland. After a 2–5 record over that span, a healthy Brooks was placed back into the starter's role. Despite slightly improved play, Brooks was unable to lead the defensive Raiders to very much success finishing with a league worst 2–14 record. Brooks also went on to have a career low 61.7 quarterback rating, and again threw more interceptions, eight, than touchdowns, three.
Brooks was released by the Raiders when they did not pick up his option after the 2006 season.
NFL career statistics
Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | Fumbles | ||||||||||||||||
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GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Sck | SckY | Fum | Lost | ||||
1999 | GB | 0 | 0 | – | DNP | |||||||||||||||||
2000 | NO | 8 | 5 | 3–2 | 113 | 194 | 58.2 | 1,514 | 7.8 | 9 | 6 | 85.7 | 41 | 170 | 4.1 | 2 | 15 | 94 | 4 | 1 | ||
2001 | NO | 16 | 16 | 7–9 | 312 | 558 | 55.9 | 3,832 | 6.9 | 26 | 22 | 76.4 | 80 | 358 | 4.5 | 1 | 50 | 330 | 13 | 2 | ||
2002 | NO | 16 | 16 | 9–7 | 283 | 528 | 53.6 | 3,572 | 6.8 | 27 | 15 | 80.1 | 62 | 253 | 4.1 | 2 | 36 | 236 | 11 | 5 | ||
2003 | NO | 16 | 16 | 8–8 | 306 | 518 | 59.1 | 3,546 | 6.8 | 24 | 8 | 88.8 | 54 | 175 | 3.2 | 2 | 34 | 195 | 14 | 11 | ||
2004 | NO | 16 | 16 | 8–8 | 309 | 542 | 57.0 | 3,810 | 7.0 | 21 | 16 | 79.5 | 58 | 173 | 3.0 | 4 | 41 | 223 | 13 | 2 | ||
2005 | NO | 13 | 13 | 3–10 | 240 | 431 | 55.7 | 2,882 | 6.7 | 13 | 17 | 70.0 | 45 | 281 | 6.2 | 2 | 33 | 202 | 4 | 2 | ||
2006 | OAK | 8 | 8 | 0–8 | 110 | 192 | 57.3 | 1,105 | 5.8 | 3 | 8 | 61.7 | 22 | 124 | 5.6 | 0 | 26 | 174 | 5 | 3 | ||
Total | 93 | 90 | 38–52 | 1,673 | 2,963 | 56.5 | 20,261 | 6.8 | 123 | 92 | 78.5 | 362 | 1,534 | 4.2 | 13 | 235 | 1,454 | 64 | 26 |
Post-playing career
Following his retirement from pro football in 2007, Brooks announced plans to go into property development. In the summer of 2008, work began on his first project to be underway, Burlington Woods, an upscale subdivision located on 17 acres (69,000 m2) in James City County, Virginia. Brooks oversaw the project through its completion, and Ryan Homes took over the construction phase.[10]
Earlier in 2008, he announced plans to invest in Southeast Commerce Center, a redevelopment project in his hometown of
In 2014, Brooks was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame, along with former teammate John Carney. Special celebrations were drawn including a private party with Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, Michael Vick and Marcus Vick.
Personal life
Brooks is the second cousin of Michael and Marcus Vick.[16][17]
See also
- List of most consecutive starts by a National Football League quarterback
References
- ^ "1999 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
- ^ David Fleming, "Second Act", ESPN The Magazine, June 25, 2001.
- ^ "Tom Sherman Biography - University of Virginia Cavaliers Official Athletic Site - VirginiaSports.com". Admin.xosn.com. August 21, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
- ^ "The Stark Fist of Sarcasm". Electric-mayhem.net. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
- ^ "Aaron Brooks' Wonderlic Test Score". footballiqscore.com. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- ^ "Aaron Brooks, DS #8 QB, Virginia". DraftScout.com. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ^ "Aaron Brooks NFL Combine Score". nflcombineresults.com. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ^ Brooks, Hall sent packing", Wisconsin State Journal, August 1, 2000. via HighBeam Research.
- SI.com, December 30, 2000.
- ^ a b c Lawlor, Joe (November 27, 2012). "Aaron Brooks to lay out plans for long-delayed development". Daily Press. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ Jennifer Armstrong, The Times-Picayune. "Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks has arm, will travel | NOLA.com". Blog.nola.com. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved August 15, 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Topic Galleries". dailypress.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
- ^ Joe Lawlor, "Development headed by ex-NFL QB Aaron Brooks back on track in Newport News"[permanent dead link], Newport News Daily Press, August 25, 2010.
- ^ "Brooks Crossing | Newport News, VA - Official Website".
- ^ Jason Wilde, "'Brothers' in arms: The Packers face Saints QB Aaron Brooks, one week after seeing his cousin Michael Vick." Wisconsin State Journal, September 12, 2002. via HighBeam Research.
- ^ George Henry, "Cousins Vick, Brooks excited to meet on field", Associated Press in Deseret News, October 21, 2001.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · ESPN · CBS Sports · Yahoo! Sports · SI.com · Pro Football Reference