The New Orleans Saints are looking for a replacement for Drew Brees. Not that coach Sean Payton wants to talk about it.
NFL.com is reporting that the Saints will look to draft a quarterback high in the 2015 NFL draft as an eventual replacement for Brees, who turns 36 in January.
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"They believe they can see the finish line here," NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported on NFL Gameday Morning. "My expectation from talking to several sources involved in the situation is that the Saints will draft a quarterback highly this year.
"In fact, they wish they had done this in previous years, mainly because, as you mentioned, Drew Brees is 35 years old, he's not as big as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, and they've seen some arm strength issues that have cropped up in the last several games, throwing crucial interceptions -- the kind which we never see from Drew Brees. They're starting to wonder what is next at this position."
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The report should not come as a surprise as NFL teams generally want a young quarterback to serve as an apprentice for a successful starter such as Brees. NFL.com reported that the Denver Broncos drafted Brock Osweiler to serve as understudy to Peyton Manning and that the New England Patriots' Jimmy Garoppolo is the second "future" quarterback behind Tom Brady (Ryan Mallett, now with the Houston Texans, was the first).
But Payton, whose team was coming off a big win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, had a different agenda in mind when he conducted his postgame interview, another NFL.com report stated. He launched into a tirade about reports that he had a strained relationship with defensive coordinator Rob Ryan (which CBSSports.com reported), and that the Saints were interested in Ray Rice (which came from ESPN) - both of which he denied as false.
When NFL.com then broached the Brees understudy story for a comment, Payton had had enough.
"Is this where we're at? Is anybody going to ask about the Steelers? Next question."
Payton recently had a run-in with ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio.
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