Drew Brees: “I Don’t Plan On Leaving New Orleans Ever”

Saints QB Drew Brees, who is in the final year of his contract and set to be an unrestricted free agent next year, mentioned during an appearance on “Hardwick & Richardson” XTRA 1360-AM that he has no plans to ever leave New Orleans.

“I’ll handle 2018 when 2018 gets here, but right now I’m in the moment, I’m in 2017,” Brees said, via NFL.com. “We’re trying to get a little bit better each and every week. I feel like we’ve got a great opportunity ahead of us and I don’t plan on leaving New Orleans ever.

“Hopefully, I know all of that stuff takes care of itself when it’s supposed to. I have not approached them about any contract. We just have a great understanding here. Listen, we’re going to go through this season and we’ll revisit it in the offseason. Right now, I’m in the moment.”

This comes just a few days after Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported the Saints are currently unsure if Brees will be back as the team’s starting quarterback in 2018.

According to Rapoport, there have been no contract talks between the Saints and Brees up to this point and there are no plans to address his situation until after the season.

Rapoport says that it’s clear Brees will be a looking for a lot of money in his next contract, particularly given that he will be in a position to test the free agent market if there’s no agreement in place and New Orleans is prevented from using their franchise tag on him.

The Saints reportedly have some concerns about the fact that Brees has missed some throws he use to make in the past and they believe there has been some “slight decline” in his play.

It worth mentioning that sources close to Brees have told Rapoport that he doesn’t want to play for another team.

All things considered, it would be a big surprise to see Brees playing for another team.

Brees, 38, 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 is currently in the final year of his two-year, $44.25 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $13 million this season. Brees would be an unrestricted free agent in 2018.

In 2017, Brees has appeared in nine games and throw for 2,398 yards while completing 71.7 percent of his passes to go along with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 quarterback out of 36 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 25 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.