New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has revealed that he was shocked by the organisation's decision to trade Jimmy Graham.

Brees conceded that he will miss his former teammate, but was adamant that the team will continue to improve and win without him.

"I think it shocked all of us," Brees told WWL-AM.

"A lot of crazy things happened, though, during the course of free agency for a lot of different teams. Unfortunately, you've been around long enough, you see some of these things happen at times. If anything it shows the confidence our organization has in the young players, especially the young skill players on offense, just feeling like those are guys that now have a chance to step up and fill a big void and fill a big role and continue to progress forward."

The Pro Bowl signal-caller also dismissed speculation over his own future, stating that any trade rumours were false as he wants to retire with the Saints.