Drew Brees predicts that Tom Brady will be back with Patriots

Drew Brees doesn’t think fellow future Hall of Famer Tom Brady is going anywhere, predicting that he’d return to the New England Patriots in 2020.

Don’t count Drew Brees among the growing chorus of voices predicting that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are headed for a split this month.

Brees — who finds himself in a similar situation to Brady this offseason — isn’t buying all the recent reports that seem to suggest friction between Brady and the only team he’s ever quarterbacked for.

Just a day after conflicting reports emerged surrounding a phone call between Brady and Bill Belichick that may or may not have been tense/unproductive, Brees joined The Greg Hill Show.

While on air, he was asked about his quarterback comrade in Foxborough, and Brees spoke his mind. Here’s some of what he said, courtesy of WEEI’s Ryan Hannable:

"“I love Tom Brady. I feel the way everybody else feels about Tom Brady. He’s a legend and I don’t see him going anywhere. But, then again, I can’t speak for him or anybody else… but I know for me, being at this stage of my career, I just want to win… I think Tom has been a guy who has kind of been a model for all of us for a lot of years. I don’t think any of this is about money for Tom. I think it is about winning another championship. I also think it is probably about feeling he’s in a situation where he has all the pieces in place to do that. Again, I can’t speak for him, but I know at this stage of the game and knowing his mentality to a degree, it is about winning a championship.”"

Brees and Brady have grown friendly over the years. Playing in two separate conferences, they’ve rarely had the opportunity to go head-to-head and develop any kind of hostility or even a rivalry akin to what Brady had with Peyton Manning.

Even Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers represent closer “rivals” for Brady than Brees… unless it comes to their mutual assault on the NFL record books, of course.

Regardless, it’s interesting to get Brees’ take on Brady. Brees himself is a free agent this spring, and he’s also a year or two away from retirement at this point (he just turned 41 not too long ago). Brees probably understands Brady’s position better than anyone else out there not named Tom Brady.