Drew Brees is on pace to break Peyton Manning's all-time passing yardage mark.

"It's just a matter of when," Manning said.

"He deserves it. He's been a great player for a long time."

Manning retired after the 2015 season with 71,940 career passing yards and 539 touchdown passes -- both all-time NFL marks. Brees needs just 1,496 yards to pass Manning.

"Obviously, he's just been the ultimate pro, taking care of himself, being in great shape. Credit to him for playing as long as he has at such a high level," Manning continued. "He's just been a great model of consistency, what he and Sean [Payton] have been able to do together for [12] years now."

Mark Ingram decided to skip the New Orleans Saints' OTAs and offseason conditioning program, but not because he's unhappy with his contract.

The running back says he wanted to change up his regimen and work out on his own heading into his eighth season.

Ingram, who is facing a four-game suspension to start the season, said he'll be prepared to "jump right in immediately and make an impact" when he returns in Week 5.

"You know, people will make their own narrative. The media makes their own narrative. I'm not angry with my contract. I wasn't holding out," he said.

"Yeah, I'm in the last year of my deal. Of course I'd like an extension. But that's not the reason I wasn't here," Ingram continued. "You have the option to stay home and train on your own. ... The main reason that I was not here was because I was training on my own, working on some things that I felt like I needed to get better at, that I could do best on my own."