It hasn't been the best month for Drew Brees. The New Orleans Saints quarterback, who's been the face of the franchise and a key cog in the city's turnaround from tragedy since 2006 was handed the franchise tag on March 3 ( a move that reportedly made him 'livid' ), and that was right around the time the hammer came down on former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his alleged practice of paying his players to injure their opponents . It was a black eye for the team, but it really hit Brees close to home when former Saints offensive lineman Kyle Turley went public and wondered what Brees might have known about the hits his teammates were putting out on other NFL quarterbacks. In Turley's mind, Brees knew all about it, and did nothing to stop it. "Of course," Turley said on Miami radio about Brees' awareness of the situation. "You know everything that goes on in your locker room. It's not just a secret deal where okay here's these big incentives for all these bounties. I'm sure it wasn't just against Brett Favre, I'm sure it was the whole season. That stuff, you're a family, you're tight, you're close, and you share everything and there's nothing that you really don't know about people from your locker room. "Of course. I'm sure he knew about it. After that big win when you come in that money isn't just secretly put in your locker, that money is taken out in front of everybody and thrown to you. That's the mentality that they want. That get rich quick thing is continuing to go on, and the attention to players safety, I don't know how much more I need to talk about it." That's a lot for Turley to throw at Brees, who's been nothing but a stand-up guy throughout his NFL career. It's pretty implausible to think that a quarterback wouldn't know of such a practice, given how close players are in locker rooms, but Brees has earned the benefit of any doubt. On Saturday, Brees released a public statement , writing a letter directly to his fans, on his personal website. You can read the full statement after the jump.
