Roman Harper shares in Drew Brees' Hall of Fame moment after years of victories together

"I take pride in the fact that I got to share an offensive huddle with Drew"

Aug 05, 2026 at 05:20 PM

Senior Writer

Ahead of Drew Brees' Class of 2026 induction, the Saints toured the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Several Saints legends have earned football's highest individual honor.

Canton, Ohio – The fact that Roman Harper didn't line up in the offensive backfield in games with Drew Brees even 10 percent of the time should surprise no one, given that the safety rarely had much reason to be near his quarterback on the field with time remaining on the clock.

But exceptions always apply.

"I take pride in the fact that I got to share an offensive huddle with Drew — just on the kneel downs at the end of the game," Harper said. "That was my pride."

More than a few kneel-down, victory-formation plays were executed by the New Orleans Saints during the eight seasons shared by Harper, the Saints' second-round draft pick in 2006, and Brees, a Saint from 2006-20. On Saturday, they'll celebrate another win: Brees will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"I'm really just excited for him," Harper said. "Nobody really deserves it more than him. Drew represents not just his great career, but so many other great teammates that helped him do those things. You couldn't name all the great receivers that he threw all those passes to, and how many touchdowns he threw to so many different people. They had a part in all of that, his journey. If I helped Drew get to where he is just by being there every single day, being somebody to compete against in practice, we all take the joy of seeing one of our guys — our quarterback — going into the Hall of Fame."

Harper said the surgical efficiency with which Brees directed the Saints' offense was a blessing and curse.

"As a player — ultimate competitor," Harper said. "The accuracy, the throws. But it almost got mundane. You get bored with putting up 35, 40 points. That's hard to say or imagine, but every week we assumed we were going to have 30 points, and it was nothing for us. And everybody thinks that it's easier to play defense for a team that's scoring 30 points and honestly, I think it's a little bit harder.

"The other teams are playing a lot more desperate. Everybody is playing fastbreak offense. You're going to see the best of whatever they're going to throw out there, because they have to try and score points and stay aggressive to keep up with (Saints coach) Sean Payton, Drew Brees and whoever the cast of offensive weapons (were) at the time.

"But as a player, the ultimate competitor. Like, I've seen him walk through and play games by himself on a field on a Friday afternoon when nobody's around. So, I saw all the hard work go into it, until the preparation met the outcomes. And so, I was never surprised at his success or anything that I saw just because I knew how he prepared. He was always the first one in the building, last one to leave. And it was not just words, it was truly actions on a week-to-week basis."

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Former New Orleans Saint and current Carolina Panthers' Roman Harper (41) shares a laugh with former teammate Drew Brees (9) following an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. The Saints won 28-10. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)

Harper has the unique privilege this year of having played with two inductees. After eight seasons with the Saints, he joined the Panthers and linebacker Luke Kuechly, another member of the Class of 2026, from 2014-15 before returning to New Orleans for his final season.

Harper saw Brees' competitive edge as an opponent with the Panthers, and as a practice teammate with the Saints, especially on Competition Thursdays.

"I learned a lot from Drew just asking questions," he said. "I learned a lot just from going against the best offense in the NFL for many, many years in New Orleans. To me, that was the best advantage we had, was using each other. Our aggressive-style defensive playcalling from (defensive coordinator) Gregg (Williams) and what we were doing defensively, we knew if it worked on Drew on Thursdays, we were gonna kick somebody's butt on Sunday. So, we tried all of our new plays throughout the week versus our own offense.

"We wouldn't practice what other teams were going to do, because we didn't care. We had a better offense than what we're facing, so let's use it versus them and we'll take time out — eight to 10 minutes of practice — to try and use some of these things and implement them and see how it works out. And Drew wouldn't know. So, if Drew didn't know and he couldn't figure it out, we knew we had something really good."

Good enough to for lots of wins, and good enough for Harper to enjoy one more victory formation.