Given that Drew Brees' first social media interaction following the Jimmy Graham trade was a picture of his son wearing the tight end's jersey, it's not surprising his first public comments on the topic were of surprise.
"I think it shocked all of us," Brees said Thursday on WWL-AM, via ESPN.com. "A lot of crazy things happened, though, during the course of free agency for a lot of different teams. Unfortunately, you've been around long enough, you see some of these things happen at times. If anything it shows the confidence our organization has in the young players, especially the young skill players on offense, just feeling like those are guys that now have a chance to step up and fill a big void and fill a big role and continue to progress forward."
Brees said Graham was "like a brother to me," and he will miss him on and off the field. The quarterback understands change is part of the business. As much as it'll hurt to be without the big red-zone target, the game moves on.
Brees won before Graham got to New Orleans, and he'll win after.
The Pro Bowl signal-caller also dismissed questions about those highly speculative trade rumors, noting that he wants retire with the Saints.
"I really did not pay attention one bit," Brees said. "This is the time of year where I'm very focused on the family. People would come up to me and say, 'I hear you're getting traded to Tampa,' and I'd say, 'OK, that's great.' I have a close enough relationship with everyone within the Saints organization that if something was going on, I know that I would hear it from them if there was any reality to it."
The latest Around The NFL Podcast plays its newest game, 'What's your Fancy?' and debates if you'd trade Aaron Rodgers for Andrew Luck. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
