Drew Brees fans raise funds to keep quarterback in New Orleans

Fans of New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees are donating money to a fund to help keep him in New Orleans. Brees could earn a franchise tag of $14.4 million next season but remains unsigned. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

A report Wednesday from Nate Davis of USA Today confirms that a season ticket holder for the New Orleans Saints has set up a website for fans of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to donate money that will be used in full for "a trust directly for the benefit of Drew Brees and/or his foundations, The Brees Dream Foundation," according to the fan site, FansStepUp.com:

[A]pparently seeing unsigned Drew Brees miss any more offseason workouts -- and perhaps hold out into training camp -- would just be too much to bear for one season ticketholder.

So Tony LeMon has started fansstepup.com, which asks Saints fans to make donations in $1, $5 or $100 increments in an effort to bridge the financial gap between quarterback and team.

The fan site launched on Tuesday by the 52-year-old lawyer and according to the tracker on the site, Brees fans have raised $1,093.09 as of Wednesday afternoon. If Brees won't accept the funds, LeMon will reportedly donate the money to the Brees Dream Foundation.