Drew Brees talks future with Saints, NFL Draft memories

Drew Brees took some time to talk about his future with the New Orleans Saints and more

This generation in the NFL, there are few premier quarterbacks better than New Orleans Saints signal-caller Drew Brees. Brees has had one of the more successful careers in the history of the league, cementing himself in history along the way by way of breaking some prominent records. Not to mention, he also holds onto a coveted Lombardi Trophy as well.

Entering his 16th year in the NFL, Brees is certainly in the home stretch of his career. However, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon, as he’s currently in contract extension talks with the organization as the summer approaches. So just how well are those talks coming at the moment?

“That’s a process, all of it is a process,” Brees said. “You have the draft and free agency, so you’re trying to assemble an entire team every year. As far as my extension goes, there’s no timeline or deadline. I’d love to see it happen sooner rather than later, but I’m confident it’ll get done in due time.”

While Brees will surely be with the team this coming season, after missing the playoffs again last season there were rumblings that longtime Saints head coach Sean Payton would not be coming back. However, he ended up signing a five-year extension with the team, which seemed to make his quarterback pretty happy.

“There was never a doubt that he was staying here, despite the speculation,” Brees said.

As he searches for an extension of his own, Brees would love to stay with Payton for the length of the one he received.

“I’m excited that he was able to sign that extension for five years, and I’d like to play for the length of that as well,” Brees added. “We want to keep that goal in front of us we set back in 2006 when he signed me as a free agent. We both love to compete, and while we missed the playoffs the last two seasons, we’re confident we can get back there.”

So what exactly is the goal for Brees, Payton and this Saints team in 2016?

“Well, obviously the consistent goal is to win a title,” Brees said. “We have to do what we can to put ourselves in the best position to succeed. I think about how we’re building both sides of the ball as well as the other teams in our division — there’s just so many elements that have to fall into place.”

While Brees is indeed one of the premier quarterbacks in this league, so has been one of his peers in New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who recently had his four-game suspension reinstated by a US Court of Appeals. What’s Brees’ thoughts on what his friend is going through at the moment?

“I thought it was a dead issue at this point, as did a lot of people. I thought it was all resolved last year and it took me by surprise a little bit when it happened. But other than that, I really don’t know all that much about the situation to speak on it.”

This weekend the Saints will look to get those pieces in place to contend Brees spoke of earlier and they’ll be doing that by way of the NFL Draft. Back in 2001 coming out of Purdue and the Big Ten, Brees was selected with the No. 32 overall pick in the second round by his first organization in his professional career, the San Diego Chargers. Brees remembered fondly just how special that moment was.

“Oh man, it was great memories,” Brees stated. “It’s one of the most exciting times in your life and just a dream come true. When you’re playing Pop Warner football as a kid, it’s your dream to be an NFL player one day. To finally realize that dream was awesome.”

Finally, for those that aren’t aware, Brees is not someone whose shy about giving back to his alma mater. Most recently, Brees took in the Purdue spring game as they closed up practices, and he seems pretty optimistic about the direction of the program in the Big Ten.

“I’m really excited for Purdue,” Brees said. “Things haven’t really gone well lately, but Coach [Darrell] Hazell is building the foundation for success and this is really a defining year for us. The schedule sets up pretty well this year, and so are the changes in the offense and defense as well. All the pieces are really getting into place for the program going forward.”

Brees is currently working with the fine folks from Tempur-Pedic, providing some hilarious moments such as the one with teammate Max Unger that you can see above.

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