New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton called himself a 'big dummy' Wednesday after telling ESPN that 2020 would be Drew Brees' final season.
"I think the way I worded it was he’s coming back for his last year," Payton said. "I honestly don’t know if it's his last year. The thing he’s done, and we’ve all done, is taken it year-by-year.
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"And man that thing blew up on me… I thought “Holy cow! I’m glad he’s in San Diego. Let him deal with this. I think his plan is to take it year-by year.”
Payton said Brees took alot of time this offseason to decide both mentally and physically if he wanted to come back which was unique to the past few seasons.
“That was my fault," Payton said. "It’s not like a big secret that I let out of the bag. It was more or less he’s back again for another year probably in my mind it really started with idea that this year was unique."
Brees signed a two-year contract extension with the Saints this offseason with the final year being voidable. He's coming off helping led the Saints to a 13-3 season. He passed for 2,979 yards and 27 touchdowns while nearly matching a career-best by completing 74.3 percent of his passes in 2019. He missed five games with an injured thumb, but was still able to become the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes last year. Brees is currently the league's all-time leader in yards, completions and completion percentage as well.
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