"Saints quarterback Drew Brees echoed the words of coach Sean Payton on Friday, saying that he too would be "beyond stunned" if he's not back in New Orleans next season.

Brees is set to become an unrestricted free agent March 13, but he said he hopes his agent, Tom Condon, and the Saints will be able to hammer out a deal sooner.

"Really the sooner the better," Brees said Friday during a conference call with the New Orleans media. "Now here we are at the end of the season, and it's time to pick up discussions again, obviously once we all get a chance to step away and decompress and let this season kind of settle. But I've had conversations with (Saints General Manager) Mickey Loomis and my agent, and at some point very soon we're going continue to talk, and hopefully we will get a deal done very soon.

"Obviously there's a lot that goes into it. It's not as easy as maybe some people think it is. There's a lot of factors, variables, things to consider. The fact is we're all very confident that a deal will get done sooner than later."

Brees is expected to sign one of the richest deals in NFL history, with an annual value around $18 million per year. He said, however, that he doesn't want or expect his deal to prevent the Saints from retaining other key free agents such as guard Carl Nicks and receiver Marques Colston."