Drew Brees To Make Retirement Decision In A “Month Or So”

Saints QB Drew Brees says he will give himself some time before making a final decision on whether or not to return and play another season in New Orleans in 2020. 

“I’m really waiting until football is totally done,” Brees said at the Pro Bowl practices on Saturday via Amie Just. “Obviously being here, I’m just very much focused on my family and this opportunity to be be around the guys, playing the game.

“Then, I’ll kind of lay low for a little bit, get away and then assess. I kind of have a process in mind. And I’ll give it a month or so.”

Brees is not technically under contract with New Orleans next season, but Saints GM Mickey Loomis has said the Saints will be happy to have Brees as long as he wants to play. 

For his part, Brees says he has no interest in playing anywhere else besides New Orleans. 

“I have never been in the situation where I was mulling over the thought of (returning),” Brees said Thursday. “To me, each one of these contracts, I don’t know how many it’s been with the Saints, I’ve played with them 14 years, each one, it’s not a matter of if it gets done, it’s when. At this stage of my career, it’s not a given that I’m coming back every year, but when that time comes, I’ll always be a Saint.”

Brees has reportedly drawn some interest as a TV analyst for when he decides to call it a career, but that doesn’t appear like that will happen in 2020. 

The Saints currently do not have a quarterback under contract for the 2020 season with Brees and Teddy Bridgewater set to be unrestricted free agents and Taysom Hill headed for restricted free agency. 

Brees, 41, 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.

Brees has spent the past 12 seasons in New Orleans and played out the final year of his two-year, $50 million contract. He is set to be a free agent in the coming months. 

In 2019, Brees appeared in 11 games for the Saints and completed 74.3 percent of his passes for 2,979 yards, 27 touchdowns and four interceptions.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2020 Free Agents list.