The Facts: Brees won't have a new contract in place before the Saints kick off training camp. Brees said Saturday that he and the Saints haven't even resumed negotiations in the last three months. "Not sure why things have not progressed," said Brees, who is heading into the final year of his contract. "They made an offer in March, we made an offer shortly thereafter. And besides the Josh Norman deal [when the Saints approached Brees about restructuring his contract to try to fit the star cornerback under their salary cap], there has been no talk about a contract since."

Diehards Line: Brees, 37, has suggested in the past that deadlines usually spur action in contract talks like these -- and there has been no real deadline in place so far, with the Saints content to let him play out the year with a whopping salary-cap figure of $30 million. When asked if the start of training camp might serve as an unofficial deadline, Brees reiterated that he wanted a deal done by the start of the season on Sept. 11. "I would say the deadline is the start of the regular season, not training camp," he said. According to ESPN.com's Mike Triplett, the biggest sticking point in Brees' contract will likely be the guaranteed money because of his age. Brees is still going strong, though. Although he has battled a series of nagging injuries over the past two years, Brees led the NFL in passing for the fourth time in five seasons last year with 4,870 yards in just 15 games played.