Brees, who has missed only one start his 10 full seasons with the Saints, remains in great shape at 36. Roethlisberger, 33, has shaken off some mid-career injury concerns with turning in back-to-back 16-gamers for the first time.
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We can’t separe them in terms of age of durability, so we have to find it in offensive philosophy.
Brees has been throwing at a 5K clip for a while in New Orleans, while 2014 marked the first time Roethlisberger came even close to flirting with that mark. With Jimmy Graham gone and some other transition in the receiving corps, plus the desire to better protect their defense, the Saints should be more of a running team in ’15.
That’s not to say Brees will be reined in. He still has young guys who can make big plays in Brandin Cooks and Brandon Coleman. But, ideally, the Saints would like to be more backfield-oriented with Mark Ingram, C.J. Spiller and a little of Khiry Robinson.
The Steelers do have stud running back in Le’Veon Bell, but his role as a receiver for Roethlisberger is just as important. Big Ben overall has the better weapons, between Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton and Bell. In the first couple games without Bell, Roethlisberger will be leaned on more vs. the Patriots and 49ers.
The schedule is in Brees’ favor, with the NFC South, NFC East and AFC South, while it’s the AFC North, AFC West and NFC West for Roethlisberger. Brees is going ahead of Roethlisberger as the fourth-round quarterback of choice in most leagues, but a lot is based on fantasy familiarity.
It’s hard to embrace the Steelers’ new identity as “light up the scoreboard”, but there was plenty of evidence of that last season when they out-pointed the Saints 436-401. They should be at 480-500 this year, and Roethlisberger is bound to be a more efficient quarterback than Brees, as their attempts should even out around 600.
The Decision: Brees is a sound choice, but Big Ben really has the better ring to him.
