Saints QB Drew Brees made an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show earlier in the day and mentioned that he expects to have a long-term agreement in place before the start of free agency.

“There is no doubt in my mind (a contract will be done),” Brees said. “It’s pretty straight up and should be done in the next 4-5 weeks.”

Even if the Saints and Brees don’t have a long-term agreement in place, New Orleans can use their franchise tag on him to prevent him from hitting the open market. The issue here is that the Saints have a number of key free agents so any money that they can save from Brees’ next contract will be used to keep talent around him. Brees has earned a huge contract but it would be wise for him to take less and ensure that they keep players like Marques Colston.

The deadline for teams to apply franchise tags is March 5th so yo can expect to hear a lot about the negotiations leading up to that date.