METAIRIE, La. - Drew Brees continued to insist Thursday that his contract is a "non-issue" even though he is heading into the final year of his deal.
"Right now [no discussions are taking place]. I don't expect them to. I don't really desire them to," Brees, who led the NFL in passing yards for the seventh time last year with 5,208, said. "I just want to play football and help this team win."
Last year, under similar circumstances, Brees, 38, and the New Orleans Saints worked out a one-year, $24.25 million extension just a few days before the regular-season opener so that he wouldn't become an unrestricted free agent after the season."
When asked why he isn't at least interested in doing the same thing this year, Brees said, "Well, I guess you guys are gonna keep asking me about it. But I guess, like, that's not my sense of urgency.
"My sense of urgency is in making myself and my team better and putting ourselves in the best position to go out this year and have success. And I know that that stuff takes care of itself. It takes care of itself when it's supposed to. And that just shouldn't be the priority right now."
The main reason why there is no sense of urgency for Brees and the Saints to get a deal done is because there is no real threat of Brees leaving in March.
Brees has made it clear both publicly and privately that he would like to keep playing in New Orleans as long as he is wanted. And he backed up those statements last September by settling for the one-year extension instead of hitting the open market. Brees would have drawn tremendous interest -- and money -- if he made himself available to other bidders.
The Saints, meanwhile, are obviously happy with the current setup. They will almost certainly want Brees back next year, especially since they don't have a successor in place yet. But they can remain flexible in case he sustains an injury or exhibits a surprising decline.
There is no reason to expect that this year, however, since Brees just had his best season in five years and came into camp in tremendous physical shape.
Sean Payton pointed out that Brees finished in the top two in Wednesday's conditioning drill. And linebacker Craig Robertson joked that he thinks Brees is really 26 years old.
"Listen, I take pride in that," Brees said of his conditioning-test performance. "I think that's part of being a leader, that you've got to set the tone and establish the tempo. I want to make sure guys know I've been working as hard as I possibly can to put us in the best position to succeed.
"I was a little sore today when I woke up after that conditioning test, I'll be honest with you. But it's mind over matter, I think, in a lot of ways. Yes, there's a lot of things that I do to take care of my body. But my approach to the game is, 'I tell myself I'm young, I act like I'm young.' I approach the game like I can do anything I want to do.
"I mean, I'm smart about it, but that's how I keep my edge."