Saints' Drew Brees wasn't looking to be highest-paid NFL player
By The Sports Xchange
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  New Orleans Saints' QB Drew Brees. (GETTY IMAGES)
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Brees says he was not seeking out record contract
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees told WWL radio Friday night that he was not seeking to become the NFL’s highest-paid player when he signed a five-year, $100 million contract with $60 million guaranteed.
The contract pays him $40 million in the first year with a signing bonus of $37 million.
“I can tell you from the start of this negotiation, I never thought once, ’Hey, I want to be the highest-paid guy,” Brees told the radio station, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “It was more about trying to look purely objectively at numbers over the last decade of top-tier quarterbacks, where it’s been and where it’s going, and trying to do what’s fair and justified.”
Brees’ contract tops the $96 million deal Peyton Manning signed with the Denver Broncos in March.
Brees threw for NFL records of 5,476 yards and a 71.2 percent completion rate last season. Brees and the Saints set a record for total offense, gaining 7,474 to beat the 2000 St. Louis Rams’ mark of 7,075.
“This season cannot start fast enough,” he said.
