Saints & Drew Brees Discussing A Four-Year Extension

ESPN’s Ed Werder reports that the Saints are discussing a four-year contract extension for QB Drew Brees.

On Wednesday, HC Sean Payton confirmed that there’s been “quite a bit” of discussion in the past week regarding a new deal for Brees.

“Daily, Mickey’ll show me a text,” Payton said, via the Advocate. “I know he and Tom have had quite a bit of discussion in the last week and a half, but I would say, ongoing now.

“It always takes a little longer than you want it to, and they’re never the same,” Payton said. “This one’s a different type of contract and negotiation than the last one.”

Extension talks between the Saints and Brees will likely be a hot topic in the coming months, given that he represents the easiest source of cap relief and he’s also in the final year of his contract.

Mike Triplett of ESPN suggested a few weeks ago that signing Brees to an extension that would pay him $20 million per year could make sense for the two parties.

Brees, 37, has one year remaining on his five-year, $100 million contract that included $40 million guaranteed. He stands to make a base salary of $19.75 million of in 2016, while $10.85 million of that salary was guaranteed as of last Wednesday.

In 2015, Brees has thrown for 4,870 yards while completing 68.3 percent of his passes to go along with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions over the course of 15 games. Pro Football Focushas him rated as the No. 6 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding a contract extension for Brees as the news is available.