Drew Brees Deal Could Be Signed by Friday or Monday."

WWL Saints sideline reporter Kristian Garic is reporting that the New Orleans Saints and quarterback Drew Brees are very close to getting a long-term deal done, one that would pay him $20 million annually.

Garic talked with Mike Hoss about his report on Thursday's edition of the Eyewitness Morning News:

• "Both sides have closed the gap rapidly. Reports came out on Monday that they were about $2 million apart on a deal and they closed that gap pretty closely."

• "It could be pretty soon here, maybe by as early as tomorrow or possibly through the weekend and into Monday that a deal could be reached between the Saints and Drew Brees."

• "Probably a 5-year-contract that could average right around $20 million over the first two years."

• "Whether it was going to be that $40 million over the first two years was kind of the ice breaker, if you will. The area that if there was going to be a sticking point, that would be it. They appeared to have at least gotten closer to working through that."

• "In this case, what has he missed? Yea, he missed mini-camp and that's fairly significant. But at the same time they have organized team activities next week and they'll have plenty of time to build that chemistry. And, oh by the way, you saw what he did last year without any mini-camps or organized team activities and he did pretty well."

Read the rest of this story at wwl.com.