Aaron Brooks (American football)

Early years

Brooks lived in a public housing project in the East End area of Newport News. Mentored by Coach Tommy Reamon, Brooks played high school football and graduated from Homer L. Ferguson High School in Newport News. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Virginia (UVA), from which he graduated in 1999.

College career

Brooks enrolled at the University of Virginia in the fall of 1994 and was a redshirt as a true freshman. He was a back-up to Mike Groh in 1995. He competed with fifth year senior Tim Sherman, whose father Tom was wide receivers coach, for the starting quarterback job in 1996. The Cavaliers were returning defensive players such as Jamie Sharper, James Farrior, and Ronde Barber. The offense was led by running back Tiki Barber. The coaching staff made Sherman, who had played well against Michigan and Virginia Tech in 1995 after starter Mike Groh went down to injury, the primary quarterback instead of the inexperienced Brooks. Nonetheless, Brooks received playing time in nearly all games and was the primary quarterback in a few. Inconsistent quarterback play by both Brooks and Sherman led to an underachieving season, and Virginia fans to this day still debate the quarterback play of the 1996 season.

Brooks was the starter in 1997. Both Brooks and the team struggled in the early part of the season but surged late to finish 7-4. It is said that Brooks high spirit and masterful game tactics were the key principle in leveling the game in their favor. The Cavaliers, however, were not invited to a bowl game. 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. Some sources declared that this great comeback later inspired Michael Vick in achieving the great sportsmanship he was later known for. The final regular season record was 9-2. The Cavaliers lost 35-33 to Georgia at the Peach Bowl.

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.

The Packers traded Brooks and tight end Lamont Hall to the Saints for linebacker K. D. Williams and the Saints' third round pick in the 2001 draft ahead of the 2000 season.

New Orleans Saints

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. 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 quarterback 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. Some statistics conducted by private sports management firms allegedly have shown that Brooks quarterback rating was undervalued by a faulty standard deviation calculation.

Football Nation ranked Brooks the 88th best NFL quarterback since the merger.

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. Burlington Woods will consist of 26 lots that will be ¹⁄₄-acre (1,000 m²) to ¹⁄₃-acre (1,300 m²). The four to five bedroom homes are expected to be from 2,000 square feet (190 m²) to 4,500 square feet (420 m²) in size. Brooks said he will oversee the project through its completion, but Ryan Homes will take over the construction phase once the individual lots are prepped.

Earlier in 2008, he announced plans to invest in Southeast Commerce Center, a redevelopment project in his hometown of Newport News. In a July 2008 interview, Brooks described plans to redevelop part of downtown Newport News, a city that shares many of the same social problems as New Orleans. The multimillion-dollar investment would be a mixed-use development between Jefferson and Terminal avenues and 33rd and 29th streets in the economically depressed East End area., including 190 town houses, a grocery store and retail offerings. Vice Mayor Charles Allen, who has represented the district for 16 years on the Newport News City Council, said that it was "significant that one of our own has taken his resources and other resources to show us that we can do it. It's a good day. It's a good day for our community." Brooks commented, "It's a great opportunity to give back to the community and at the same time let retailers know we don't just have the stigma of being 'bad news,' ... a lot of hard-working, middle-class people that live in the area. I'm just trying to make the area better for them." As of August 2010, the project had not commenced, but was reported to be back on track after negotiations between Brooks and the city council.

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 in a New Orleans local social events venue. Personalities such as Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, Michael Vick and Marcus Vick attended the event.

Personal

He is the second cousin of Michael and Marcus Vick.