New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has heard the rumors, he's seen the reports - reports he believes are based on pure conjecture - and he finds it all pretty laughable.
Brees, speaking with Mike Triplett of ESPN recently, revealed that the rampant speculation over his future with the NFL's New Orleans franchise - and, presumably, the NFL in general - has had no effect on him other than to cause him to shake his head and wonder.
"Well, all the trade rumors I would hear from people," Brees said, per Triplett. "I would have people come and, 'So I hear you're getting traded to Tampa.' Oh, OK, great. And then the next week, it's like, OK, who is it this week? Buffalo? Or wherever else. So I lost track.
"But again, I know that if things like that were taking place that I have the type of relationship with our team, our organization, that I would know about those things. So when I hear them second-hand or from a media outlet or whatever, I don't really pay it much [attention]."
Rumors of Brees' potential availability have seemingly come from all angles in recent days, most notably in connection with Saints head coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis' alleged infatuation with former Oregon signal-caller Marcus Mariota in the 2015 NFL Draft.
There's also Brees' advancing age (36) and massive cap hit ($26.4 million for the 2015 season, $27.4 million for 2016) to take into account when considering his Saints and NFL future.
Brees, per Triplett, said the team has not approached him about a contract extension or restructuring - although Triplett states that it's hard to tell if Brees answered in the negative as a way to simply deflect the question or if he was actually stating that there had, in fact, been no contract talks to this point.
"No, and I mean, listen, if there was, I wouldn't say anything about it, just like there's a lot of things that I won't comment on from a contract standpoint," Brees said. "Because those conversations are between me and our organization, and that's the stance I'll always take on that."
Brees is still a highly effective player - he threw for 4,952 yards, 33 touchdowns and managed a 97.0 quarterback rating in what was a down year for the entire Saints organization - and New Orleans doesn't have a ready replacement on the roster.
As such, there seems little chance he's headed elsewhere in the near future.
Unless, of course, the Saints are able to get their hands on a certain potential franchise quarterback in the draft - then, all bets are off.
Still, with plenty of holes to fill on defense and two first-round picks in the 2015 NFL Draft, the likeliest scenario seems to be the Saints sticking to improving Rob Ryan's moribund unit early, taking a flier on a high-potential quarterback prospect - like Baylor's Bryce Petty - in the later rounds and allowing him to learn at the feet of Brees and Payton for a couple of seasons before taking over once Brees' contract and Saints tenure runs it's course.
