Drew Brees should know within a week if he'll collect nearly $4 million more than the NFL says he's due if he's franchise-tagged for a third time in 2013. The Saints quarterback, who was represented by the NFL Players Association, had an hour-long grievance hearing before arbitrator Stephen Burbank on Wednesday in Philadelphia. The hearing was to gain clarity on the interpretation of franchise-tag rules and the contract's total value, and Burbank said he'd rule on the issue within a week, according to a league source.

Drew Brees let off a little steam on "Late Show with David Letterman," blaming the NFL for continuing coverage of the "bounty" scandal in New Orleans. "I'll be honest with you, and I think I can speak for all fans in America for that matter, we are tired of hearing about it," Brees told Letterman. "We don't want to talk about it anymore. Put forth the facts, the truth, and if indeed there was a pay-to-injure scheme, then people will get punished, and if there's not, then let's exonerate these men because, at this point, it seems like it's a smear campaign. We're dragging them through the mud, we're ruining their reputations and careers with no true evidence."

If Roger Goodell doesn't overturn his suspension, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has informed a federal judge that he will file an injunction of his year-long ban. WWLV-TV in New Orleans reported Vilma's intention to file the injunction and posted a link to the letter he sent to Judge Helen G. Berrigan.

Drew Brees remains in limbo as the Saints approach training camp. As we have heard for months, the quarterback said Tuesday he's "confident" a long-term contract will be worked out with the team. "I would never sit out a football season," Brees said added. "I love this game too much, I love my team too much, but obviously there's a lot that can happen between now and then, so let's just hope we can get a long-term deal done ... Over the last month, (talks have) picked up. There was a dry spell there for a bit."

The NFL Players Association has sent a letter to the NFL asking the league to investigate whether the Saints have been negotiating in good faith with Drew Brees, according to a report. Some within the union believe that the quarterback's work with New Orleans last year during the lockout might be held against him during the negotiations, according to sources. Brees has been seeking a long-term extension while the Saints placed the exclusive rights franchise tag on him.

Drew Brees doesn't seem overly concerned about his looming deadline to land a long-term contract with the Saints. Brees said he is "very confident" that he will reach an agreement with the Saints prior to July 16. "I've always said, you would think this process should be a lot simpler than it is," the quarterback said. "It just always seems to be complicated. But I'm still very confident that we'll get a long-term deal done, and hopefully that will happen sooner than later." The Saints placed their exclusive-rights franchise tag on Brees earlier this offseason, and the two sides have until the July 16th to hammer out a long-term extension.

NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said that Anthony Hargrove, who received an eight-game suspension as part of the NFL's investigation of the "bounty" program in New Orleans, was not punished for taking or contributing money for hits, but for lying about the program itself. On Tuesday, Hargrove claimed that a voice heard saying "Bobby, give me my money" on an NFL Films audio from the 2009 NFC Championship Game wasn't his. "I suppose you could watch anything enough times and come up with different conclusions, but we didn't discipline Anthony Hargrove for taking any money in the context of this program," Pash said. "What that videotape rather clearly demonstrates is two things: One, there was a program and it corroborates rather clearly that there was a program where a player could be rewarded for making a play that resulted in an injury to an opponent ... second, it demonstrates Mr. Hargrove's awareness of the program and his understanding that it existed, and it demonstrates that his statements to our investigators in early 2010 denying the program and saying there was nothing like that in existence were false. That is the basis on which the Commissioner imposed discipline on Mr. Hargrove." Hargrove now plays for the Packers.

Brett Favre hasn't given much thought to being targeted as quarterback of the Vikings in the 2010 NFC Championship Game against New Orleans. "People ask me about it at home, because everyone back home was Saints fans," Favre told Deion Sanders of The NFL Network. "I grew up a Saints fan, an hour from the Superdome. "My feeling, and I mean this wholeheartedly, is that I really don't care. What bothers me is we didn't win the game. And they didn't take me out of the game. They came close, but a lot of people have come close. I'm too stubborn to come out. Plus, that was kind of a big game. I'm not going to sit the last three minutes. I'm going to go out there with bones sticking out of the skin, I'm going to finish it."

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has written to Roger Goodell asking the NFL commissioner to reopen the investigation of the Saints' bounty program. In an interview with Pro Football Talk Live, Smith said he intended to talk to Goodell and would point out areas of the investigation that he believes failed, in addition to particulars that he says the league should re-examine.

Saints interim head coach Joe Vitt says he called Roger Goodell on Wednesday morning and offered to take a lie detector test to prove that the league's bounty allegations against him are false. The NFL has alleged, with corroborating evidence, that Vitt offered a $5,000 bounty on Brett Favre during the 2010 NFC Championship Game.