Drew Brees is a Pro Football Hall of Famer and a New Orleans Saints legend.
As the 2026 NFL season commences, though, he has a new role. It’s the beginning of his first full season as a Fox color commentator on Sundays.
With that role comes new notoriety for Brees, who will be in front of fans of a variety of teams who happen to have him assigned to their game in a given week, working alongside play-by-play man Adam Amin.
Those fans will notice that on the upper part of Brees’ right cheek, there’s some kind of marking. It looks like a scar.
Even during Brees’ playing career, it fascinated fans who wondered what was going on with the superstar QB’s cheek.
Turns out, the explanation is quite simple.
What’s the ‘Scar’ on Drew Brees’ Face?
It’s actually not a scar at all. It’s a birthmark.
It’s been there, as the word suggests, since Brees was born.
When Brees was growing up, he was bullied because of the mark on my face.
“Because of my birthmark, which I was obviously born with, I got all kinds of comments when I was a kid, about ‘Wipe that whatever off your face,'” Brees told CNN in 2012. “… All kinds of names. People would call me ‘Spot.’ I think they were trying to be malicious. They were trying to be hurtful.”
Brees eventually became a star quarterback, first at Purdue and then with the Chargers and the Saints. That gave him a platform to speak out against bullying based on his own past experiences.
“Making fun of someone because they’re different from you? That’s not being tough, it’s being ignorant,” Brees said in 2010. “I want my fans to know that if you’re making fun of someone … then you are no friend of mine.”
Drew Brees Finds Meaning
Brees, for a time, considered having the birthmark removed — a fact he revealed in the book he wrote, entitled “Coming Back Stronger.”
Instead, he kept it, and for a specific reason.
“Instead of seeing it as a bad thing, I chose to see it as something that made me unique and special,” Brees wrote. “It set me apart from everyone else. … Now it’s just a part of who I am. I wouldn’t consider cutting off my arm. Neither would I cut off my birthmark.”
Brees had a football journey with some serious adversity. An injury to his throwing arm early in his NFL career created a lot of doubters. It was pretty much only Saints coach Sean Payton who believed in him.
Payton’s belief, though, was the first step along the path to Brees becoming the NFL’s all-time leading passer.
He’s made an incredible life in football for himself while also growing and raising a family.
Now, Brees’ voice will be on a bunch of television sets every Sunday. And he’ll bring all the lessons he learned to an audience that’s ready to root on their team and hopefully gain some positive insights, too.
Drew Brees’ ‘scar’ on his face isn’t actually what it looks like