Ok, just for the sake of argument
 

Let's say that the Saints tag Drew Brees and Brees refuses to play and sits out the whole year, or the Saints let him walk. No Drew Brees for 2012.

How confident are any of you, in Chase Daniel being able to run this team as well or better than Drew?

What contingencies would the Saints have, of getting another starting caliber QB that could lead this team to a championship this year.

And finally, who could the Saints get in the draft or in a trade to replace Drew and what team would we possibly trade with?

Let the discussion begin......

Drew is too much of a competetor to sit out. Can't imagine that happening.

Ok then, lets say Carl Nicks leaves and Brees gets sacked and injured and will miss the season on IR. This whole thing is about what would or could we do to carry on and get to the Super Bowl.

If we screw this deal up with Drew we can kiss goodbye our winning years and prepare for the bags again.

Come on guys, get with the idea of the thread. Drew won't be our QB forever. Lets see what we could do if we had to go into this season without him. Lets see some ideas, alternatives of what we could do. It is fees-able that we lose Nicks and Drew could get hurt in pre season. What would or could we do to keep our championship dreams alive?

I'm not sure that chase can lead the 2012 saints to the Super Bowl, but I do believe he is the best kept secret in the NFL and he'll be revealed this preseason, likely gone next year, depending on how the brees situation plays out... I do have confidence in saying that if he is left to be our WB, we'll be fine long term. I am by no means advocating ditching brees, though...

If Chase Daniel is the new starting QB, I think we are looking at a 6-10 season. Seriously, if Brees goes away, the Saints will have to bring in a veteran QB. I know the chances of Brees getting away are slim to none, I mean there is always the franchise tag, but if it came down to him sitting out, Mickey will need to gas up his car and make a trip to Hattiesburg. I think for about 8 million dude would come out of retirement for one season. Just saying...

Has Daniel even been re-signed? You do know he is a RFA?

If the Saints were not to have Brees as their QB for next season, I doubt that SP would decide to go with Daniel as the #1 QB. Don't get me wrong, Daniel is capable of winning games for the Saints, but he isn't the precision passer that Brees is and he would undoubtedly have problems with the calling of on the field audibles and such.

There are FA QBs available that could step up to the next level under SP's tutelage like, Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton, Charlie Batch, Kyle Boller, and others. Then there's of course the "old timers" who could be persuaded to take another crack at it like, Kerry Collins, Jeff Garcia, or even Mark Brunell. And with all the money the Saints would save in not signing Brees, they could even go after Flynn in the FA market.

I mean none of these guys would be as good as Brees, but there are capable options around if the situation - that the Saints needed to find a new QB - presented itself.

Drew Brees is a good QB, but he is not as good as this board makes him out to be. He has been compared to Jesus...and I know he's not that good.

And the 20 million we save can bring in quite a bit of defensive talent, as well as a decent QB or two.

Depending on how this is handled and who we lose this season may be 8-8

Drew is the catalyst on a well run Offense. It has taken several years to get it to where it is now. If Drew was out the offense would stall. Chase is not the fix, we would have to look elsewhere. 6-10 maybe without Drew.

Lets say Drew wants 25 mil.......I would trade him to the Browns for this years 2 rd 1 picks, Sign Flynn, resign Colston and Nicks and use the draft picks and the left over cap money to secure the defense. I love Drew in a Saints uniform but this is getting sad........

Not a good moot point, or badly phrased. As good or better than Brees? Merely as good as Brees is the best offense the past 6 years, probably the best 6 year span by an offense in the history of the NFL, so the odds of that happening are not good with Daniel, or any other QB they can bring in.

Again, badly stated moot point.
They are only 4 established "contingencies" in the NFL to even get a QB (let alone a staring caliber QB) and everyone knows them:
* go with the backup
* sign a free agent
* trade
* draft
So there is no discussion over that.

I'll say this, though:
I have confidence in Sean Payton and in that he's kept Daniel around for a reason. He may not be as good as Brees, but who is?

As for bringing in someone else, the obvious name here is Peyton Manning if he gets released (which looks like he will). By the same token, if Drew sits, the best fit for Manning would be the Saints if he truly wants the chance to win another ring: He'll have protection in New Orleans, a receiving group that runs strict routes and are used to timing patterns, and an offense that's's used to play changes at the LOS.

And no, he ain't getting 28 million this year from anyone, or anyone who can win anything any time soon with his style of QB.

Well, I go back to what Brees himself said in an interview during last pre-season - he said Daniel was a chunkier version of him. So, put Daniel on a SlimFast regiment and voilà! The Saints have another pro-bowl QB. :-D

I think Chase would be OK. He would bring some scrambling to the offense. He does take off and run more than Drew does. Let's hope we don't have to find out though.

Not a bad thought process....I am still kinda processing it

Payton never shows his hand no matter what the deal. Last year when we sat Drew all we saw was Daniels handing off the ball. If I see him pass a whole lot more in preseason we might be getting him the needed exposure so we can trade him.

Does Chase Daniel want to WATCH football and get a ring, or does he want to play football in the shoes of Drew Brees?

Chase Daniel is like a tourniquet. You feel good about having it in your first aid kit, but if you ever have to use it things have gone terribly wrong.

Alaska

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Looking at how things are going, we've tagged Brees, he's not going to be happy about that. I wonder if this Bounty thing has Brees wanting out of NO. After all his whole persona is CLASS, INTEGRITY, and ACCOUNTABILITY. Drew may want to get away from NO feeling like he was betrayed by SP and Loomis. He's also said he wouldn't play for the Franchise Tag.

I definitely wouldn't mind the Saints going after Flynn. He performed better than any other backup QB in the league when he got his chance and if SP stays/isn't fired, he could do well in our offensive scheme. I'm not too sure about the old timers though. Jason Campbell, I've never been impressed by, Matt Lineart's career has gone in the tank a la Ryan Leaf and no other QB's are coming to mind that could start for us and do a good enough job to get us to a championship except maybe Payton Manning and I know a lot of people would not like having him and he probably wouldn't want to come here anyway. I'm just trying to see what our options could be. What about draft picks?

Refusing to play under the tag, would be in violation of the CBA, which doesn't translate into class, integrity, and accountability.

I'm kind of on the fence about Flynn, because his price will be inflated and with such a small sample to base the evaluation on - he might end up like Matt Cassel, who looked really good with the Pats, but has been crap ever since.

If I had to choose one QB from all the FAs, it would probably be Horton at the moment, because he has the experience and a rather good throwing arm - I'm sure SP could elevate him to the next level.

Im pretty new to all this being from the uk.
This is my first offseason as a fan of a team so bear with me.

Is there a chance that we have tagged Drew to trade him if it looked unlikely he wanted to stay or that the management decided the contract was just too big and didnt want to end up in a similar position to that of the Colts?

The fact that they decided to place an exclusive rights franchise tag on him would suggest that they have no intention of getting rid of him.

No other team can hand out an offer sheet to an exclusive rights franchise player, although the team that franchised him can negotiate with other teams, but if the Saints would've wanted to trade Brees they would've probably placed a non-exclusive rights tag on him, because it would've created more outside interest toward Brees.

A non-exclusive franchise player can receive offers from other teams, but their franchise team has the upper hand in that it has the right to match all offers the tagged player receives and retain their services. If the franchise team doesn't match the offer from another team - the franchise team will be compensated with two 1st round draft picks by the other team.

Thanks for that.
Taking time trying to get used to what all the tags etc mean.

No problem, some of these things are quite complicated and it takes time and commitment to become familiar with them.

There are numerous highly knowledgeable people on these board (and I do not include myself on that list), so whenever you have a question - I'm sure there are people here that can give you an answer.

Just ask away... :-)