Sean Payton On Re-Signing Drew Brees: “He’s Coming Back. We’ll Get This Done”

On Thursday, Saints HC Sean Payton tells Jane Slater of the NFL Network that there’s no question QB Drew Brees will be back in New Orleans for the 2018 season.

“He’s coming back,” Payton said at the Pro Bowl. “We’ll get this done.”

Both Brees and the Saints have made it clear they plan to get a deal hammered out before free agency.

Saints GM Mickey Loomis said Wednesday that they want Brees to remain the team’s starting quarterback moving forward they don’t anticipate there being any big issues in terms of negotiating a long-term deal.

“We want him to be our quarterback, and we’ll get going on that at some point,” Loomis said, via Josh Katzenstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “We’ll get to it. I’m not anticipating any big issues, so we’ll see.”

Loomis said that nothing surprises him about the success Brees has had, despite nearly being 40 years old and they value him greatly as a member of their team.

“Nothing he does should surprise any of us, right?” Loomis said. “Look, we love him. The impact he’s had on our team, our organization, our city is hard to measure. Nothing surprises me that he does. I’m excited about it. . . .

“Look, it’s beyond the numbers. It’s the leadership. He’s the face of our organization. He’s embraced being identified with New Orleans and all those things that are good for our community and him as well. Sometimes you feel a little awkward piling on these compliments, but he deserves them all.”

Brees said last week 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 also mentioned that he hopes they can get a contract worked out before March and the start of free agency, per Sean Fazende.

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.