Drew Brees said his contract talks with the New Orleans Saints have been tabled until after this season so he can keep his focus on the playing field. Brees, 32, is due to be a free agent after this season, though the Saints can maintain rights to him through the franchise tag.

“You know, I didn’t want it to become a distraction,” Brees said of the decision that was quietly made sometime in the past month. “And from the discussions we had, going back and forth, there was no progress really being made. I really wanted to just focus on football.

“It’s been tabled for now … and just hopefully will resume when the time is right.”

Indeed, most indications from earlier contract talks suggested that the Saints and Brees’ agent, Tom Condon, remained far apart up through the end of October. Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and Condon have continued to stay in touch, and Loomis said he would be open to making a deal at any point. But Loomis did credit Brees for not allowing the contract issue to ever become a distraction, as is often the case when players are seeking new deals around the league.

Eventually, the Saints and Brees will almost certainly reach a long-term extension that keeps him in New Orleans, since the fit has been so perfect for both player and team since he arrived as a free agent from the San Diego Chargers in 2006.

His next deal is expected to compete with the recent deals signed by Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (five years, $100 million), New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (a four-year, $72 million extension) and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (at least five years, $80 million). However, all of those deals are structured differently, which leaves a lot of wiggle room in Brees’ contract talks. For instance, manning’s deal averages $23 million per year over the first three years, while Brady’s deal actually averages $15.7 million over five years since he still had one year left on his previous contract.

Although Brees had already earned his place among the elite quarterbacks in the NFL before this season, he may be improving his bargaining position as this season goes along. He is on pace to break both Dan Marino’s NFL record for passing yards in a season (5,084 yards) and his own NFL record for completion percentage (70.62). He has also led the Saints (10-3) to their third consecutive playoff appearance.

NASHVILLE, TENN. — Twenty minutes after the Saints’ thrilling 22-17 win against the Tennessee Titans, Malcolm Jenkins stared down a pod of reporters at his post-game locker and called a timeout.

“Just give me a few minutes to dress and collect my emotions,” said the Saints’ normally preternaturally calm free safety.

Minutes? How about a few hours. Heck, it might take days for the Saints and their frazzled fans to decompress from the wild, frenetic, roller-coaster ride of a road victory at LP Field on Sunday.

Say this about the Saints: They are never boring. Who needs Six Flags when you’ve got the Saints defense around to provide thrills every fall weekend. At least when road games are involved, the FCC might start requiring network Saints broadcasts to air warning ads as a precaution for viewers with a history of heart problems.

For 53 minutes against the Titans, the Saints defense played about as well as they had all season. They smothered star running back Chris Johnson, holding him to a season-low 23 yards on 11 carries, and harassed quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker into a woeful 1-of-10 conversion rate on third down. They limited the Titans to one touchdown in eight series through the first three-and-a-half quarters.

Then they almost undid it all in the final seven minutes as the Titans relentlessly rallied behind Locker, the backup. After holding the Titans to 195 yards and 10 first downs in their first eight series, the defense yielded 178 yards and seven first downs on the final three.

The Saints were forced to make four key stops — the final two with their backs to the end zone from their 5-yard line — to preserve a game they seemingly had cemented with 7:10 remaining and a 12-point lead.

As the final frantic seconds played out, Saints fans at home and in the stands trembled in varying degrees of apoplexy. In the press box, General Manager Mickey Loomis could hardly keep his composure. And on the sidelines, even Payton admitted he was “wound up” and “excited” as he incredulously watched the Titans drive into point-blank scoring range.

Between the lines, though, the Saints defenders were calm and collected. They’d been there before. Just a month ago, they’d survived a similar harrowing finish to edge the Falcons in overtime in Atlanta.

“I think we’re pretty even keel,” Jenkins said. “(Defensive coordinator) Gregg (Williams) does a good job of stressing us and making things harder for us in practice than they are in the game. I really didn’t even realize or take time to think until after the game that, really, they could have won the game. We were just in the zone out there.”

The defensive heroes were numerous.

None was bigger than Jenkins, who stoned Johnson in the open field to stop him a half-yard short of a first down on the Titans’ penultimate possession.

There was Jabari Greer, who blanketed Damian Williams on the ensuing third-down pass to force an incompletion and the all-important fourth down.

The entire defensive line, for their collective push to snuff Locker’s fourth-down sneak three inches short of a first down.

Tracy Porter, with a perfectly timed break-up of a slant pass to Marc Mariani on third down from the 5.

And Jo-Lonn Dunbar, whose game-clinching sack of Locker at the 8 as time expired sent the Saints’ bench into a roiling sideline celebration.

“I thought we rose up today,” Jenkins said. “We preach, ‘Just give us a chance.’ If we can fight for that extra yard or extra couple of inches to get us into a fourth-and-1 or get us into a goal-line stand, then we give ourselves another chance to rise up and make some plays. That’s what happened.

We gave up some big plays, but the way we finished, that’s what it’s all about.”

It was a finish Saints fans won’t soon forget. The Saints won for the fifth consecutive time and secured a playoff berth for the third consecutive year. And they did so despite committing 11 penalties for 95 yards and losing three head-scratching replay challenges along the way.

Afterward, Saints defenders banded like brothers in the raucous locker room. They credited the Titans for the series of big plays they surrendered.

“We’ll never a have bend-but-don’t-break approach,” Greer said. “Throw it out. I hate it. We have a protect our field position, give our offense the ball, hit, hit, hit, swim to the football and swarm to the football approach. We fight.”

Jenkins added: “If we continue to fight for every inch and defend every blade of grass, we’ll be in good shape.

Some believe they fight a little too much. Titans receiver Nate Washington accused Roman Harper of dirty play after the Saints safety was whistled for two personal fouls, including a nasty facemask that nearly decapitated Tennessee receiver Damian Williams in the second quarter. He accused Harper of employing premeditated rough-housing after the whistle, as well.

“Our coach told us all week that they’re gonna be chippy, and they’re gonna be dirty,” Washington said. “And he’s the main player they were talking about. He’s been doing this all year, and I hope he gets reprimanded for it.”

Washington might have a point, but his complaints rang hollow in the aftermath of such a fantastic finish. It might not have been the prettiest or most dominant performance of the season, but the Saints will cherish it just as much as their clobbering of the Colts or toppling of the Texans. Road wins against good teams in December are hard to come by.

The Saints knew this would be a physical alley fight for four quarters. They knew they needed to play tough in the trenches and avoid big mistakes. And they understood it would likely be won in the fourth quarter.

All of those things proved true.

The Saints defense didn’t play perfectly, and at times it was far from pretty. But just as they did in Atlanta, they made the plays when it mattered most. As Sean Payton would say, that’s significant.

Quarterback Drew Brees’ agent, Tom Condon, spent the day in New Orleans on Tuesday to meet with New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and try to narrow the gap in their contract negotiations. “We spent a good deal of time together and had a substantial talk,” said Condon, though he said he couldn’t characterize how far along the talks are.

Although both sides are clearly motivated to work out an extension at some point, a deal could come together within a matter of days or take several months to finalize.

Brees, 32, is in the final year of his contract with the Saints. But the Saints aren’t under immediate pressure to work out an extension because they can use the franchise tag on him next season, which would pay him the average salary of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL.

However, it seems inevitable that the Saints and Brees will work out a long-term extension. This has been one of the most mutually beneficial relationships in NFL history since Brees signed as a free agent in 2006, and both sides want it to continue.

It also seems logical that the new deal will average somewhere around $18 million per year. That was the average of quarterback Tom Brady’s four-year, $72 million extension with the New England Patriots in 2009. And it was the average of the new five-year, $90 million deal quarterback Peyton Manning signed with the Indianapolis Colts this summer.

Of course, there still is a lot of wiggle room in the details. For example, Manning’s deal averages $23 million per year in the first three years. And Brady’s deal actually amounted to a five-year, $78.5 million contract since it included the final year of his previous contract, which brought the average down to $15.7 million per year.

Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles also worked out a new contract with franchise quarterback Michael Vick. Although the deal was touted as a six-year, $100 million deal, it’s actually worth $80 million over five years ($16 million per year) because of an escape clause.

No doubt, Loomis and Condon will quibble over where Brees fits in that spectrum.

For now, the Saints still have a good deal of leverage. The Colts and Eagles used the franchise designation with Manning and Vick in February before working out the new contracts months later.

The Saints don’t always maximize their leverage in contract negotiations, though. For example, they made guard Jahri Evans the richest interior lineman in NFL history in May 2010, even though he was a restricted free agent that season.

Brees’ current salary is $7.4 million. He signed a six-year, $60 million deal in 2006. He restructured for salary-cap purposes in 2009, but the total value didn’t change.

Brees has remained publicly patient throughout the contract negotiations. He has often acknowledged that he’s interested in signing an extension, but the closest he has come to “demanding” a new deal through the media was when he said in January: “I think every player’s always looking for an extension, aren’t they?”

Brees’ patience has been tested in recent weeks, though. Not only did the Manning and Vick deals get done, but other high-profile NFL players — such as tailbacks Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, safety Troy Polamalu and tight end Jason Witten recently have agreed to extensions.

Plus, the Saints announced a new contract extension for Coach Sean Payton last week that will run through 2015.

“It could have very easily happened in a different order,” Payton said last week when asked about his extension coming before Brees’ new deal. “I think the contract that we did here with the club is a little bit simpler and less complicated than that would be of a player such as Drew Brees.”

Drew Brees’ agent Tom Condon confiirmed that he spent the day in New Orleans on Tuesday to meet with New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and try to narrow the gap in their contract negotiations.

“We spent a good deal of time together and had a substantial talk,” said Condon, though he said he couldn’t try and characterize how far along the talks are at this point.

Although both sides are clearly motivated to work out a contract extension at some point, it’s possible that a deal could come together within a matter of days or take several months to finalize.

Brees, 32, is in the final year of his current contract with the Saints. But the Saints aren’t under any immediate pressure to work out an extension since they can use the franchise tag on him next year.

Ultimately, though, it seems inevitable that the Saints and Brees will work out a long-term extension. This has been one of the most mutually-beneficial relationships in NFL history since Brees signed as a free agent in 2006, and both sides want it to continue.

The 49ers thought enough of Aubrayo Franklin to make him their franchise player last season. In doing so, they paid him a one-year salary of $7 million to retain his rights and prevent him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.

That’s the kind of commitment you make to a star.

Yet, in New Orleans this year, Franklin isn’t even slated to start.

Darren Sproles was the Chargers’ franchise player in 2009. In New Orleans, he’s essentially a role player, one of the many options for Drew Brees in his deep offensive arsenal.

“We’ve got a really deep team,” Franklin said. “We’ve got guys that were the stars on other teams who’ve put aside their personal goals to be a part of a team. Everybody has bought into it.”

The 53-man group the Saints will take to Green Bay this week for the regular season opener might be the deepest in club history. By all accounts, it’s certainly one of the deepest in football.

This abundance of talent is one of the reasons Saints Coach Sean Payton is so bullish on this year’s team. He and General Manager Mickey Loomis spent the offseason fortifying the roster at key spots. They had several goals in mind, among them to build a team that could withstand the rigors of a 16-game season and to improve the club’s special teams, which have struggled in recent years.

With a couple of exceptions, the Saints are stacked with talent. On offense, they are four deep at receiver, three deep at running back. On defense, they are three deep at defensive tackle, five deep at end and five deep at cornerback.

The roster is a perfect blend of experience and youth. At nearly every position, there’s a capable backup. In most cases, the backup has starting experience in the NFL. In some cases, they are former stars.

The improved depth should keep the Saints fresher in the fourth quarter and down the stretch of the long season. In addition to adding much-needed athleticism to special teams, the youthful reserve group should be less injury-prone.

The rookie class is a prime indicator of the Saints’ depth.

There was a time when the Saints needed rookies, especially high-round picks, to be impact players. Remember how desperate the Saints were to plug Johnathan Sullivan into the middle of their defensive line back in 2003?

In 2006, the Saints were so thin seventh-round pick Marques Colston and fourth-round pick Jahri Evans emerged as starters.

Those days are long gone.

This year first-round draft picks Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram will play rotational roles. Neither is being asked to carry the load at their respective positions.

Ingram, of course, will play a lot. He’s undoubtedly a big-time talent. But he won’t have to carry the load with Pierre Thomas, Sproles and Joique Bell around.

And although Jordan might start against the Packers this week because of Will Smith’s suspension, he’ll be a rotational player at end. The spotlight won’t be nearly as hot on him as it was Sullivan eight years ago.

Third-round picks Martez Wilson and Johnny Patrick are highly regarded by the Saints. Both could eventually become starters. But this season, their main contributions are likely to come on special teams.

Depth has never been more critical than in today’s NFL. Players are bigger, stronger and faster than ever. The violent high-speed collisions produce injuries at an unprecedented rate.

The Packers might not have been the most talented or experienced team in the NFL last season, but they clearly were the deepest. They won the Super Bowl with an NFL-high 15 players on the injured reserve list. And with one of the youngest rosters in the league returning, the deep Packers are a legitimate threat to repeat as champs.

The Saints finished the season with 12 players on injured reserve, including an incredible five running backs. Injuries to Malcolm Jenkins, Jimmy Graham and Chris Ivory in the regular season finale against Tampa Bay did them in. By the end of the playoff loss in Seattle, fullback Heath Evans was the last back standing. Payton has admitted his decision to play his regulars in the Buccaneers game was one of his biggest coaching regrets.

This season a deeper Saints roster is better positioned to handle such adversity.