Drew Brees will not talk about a contract extension with the New Orleans Saints once the season starts. Over the weekend, his coach Sean Payton stated his agreement with the decision of his quarterback.
“Just having seen the interview and his comments, they totally make sense,” Payton said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “It was the case (five) years back. You don’t want to be, A, as team or, B, as a player focusing on player contracts right during the middle of the season.”
Payton also stated that he doesn’t feel that the contract uncertainty will bother Brees.
The idea that it would be a distraction for any player to negotiate a contract in season is certainly debatable. With that said, there’s absolutely no doubt that a player of Brees’ profile negotiating a contract during the season would be incredibly distracting.
Brees is not only the team’s quarterback and highest-profile player, but is also unquestionably the best, most-important player in the Saints history. Contract negotiations — even when fairly peaceful — tend to have leaks and at least rumors of hard feelings. Most players aren’t big enough names to cause a big distraction within the team, but Brees certainly is.
Given Brees’ immeasurable value to the franchise and the contract extension that Payton just signed, it’s awfully hard to imagine that Brees won’t be the quarterback in New Orleans in 2017 and beyond.