Drew Brees Can Negotiate With Teams During Legal Tampering Period, Despite Report

Update:

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has confirmed with both NFL and NFLPA spokesmen that Saints QB Drew Brees can negotiate with other teams as of Monday, despite the earlier report.

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An NFLPA spokesman tells Nick Underhill of the Advocate that Saints QB Drew Brees can’t negotiate with other teams during the legal tampering period on March 12 like other free agents. Instead, Brees has to wait another two days to start meeting with teams, as his contract doesn’t officially void until March 14.

In the big picture, waiting an extra two days to meet with other teams isn’t that big of a deal, but it at least gives the Saints some additional time to get their quarterback under contract long-term.

The two parties were expected to meet at the Combine to try to hammer to a short-term contract extension. However, the Combine passed with a deal in place and there haven’t been any reports to suggest a deal is close since then.

Even so, all indications have been that the Saints and Brees will eventually get an extension in place this offseason to ensure he’ll continue his career in New Orleans.

Brees previously told reporters that he’s hoping to remain in New Orleans for as long as they’ll have him.

“I’m not in the mood to make anything secretive,” Brees said, via ESPN.com. “It’s the same way I felt two days ago. It’s the same way I felt 12 years ago. That is that I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me, hopefully.”

“We’re just two days removed, so I really haven’t given it a ton of thought — other than, I know where my mindset’s been the whole time, and that’s that I’ll be here,” Brees added.

Brees, 39, is a former second-round pick of the Chargers back in 2001. After five years with the Chargers, Brees signed on with the Saints as a free agent in 2006.

He’s spent the past 11 seasons in New Orleans and has played out the final year of his two-year, $44.25 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $13 million this season. Brees will be an unrestricted free agent in the coming months.

In 2017, Brees has appeared in 16 games and throw for 4,334 yards while completing 72 percent of his passes to go along with 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 quarterback out of 39 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.