Under the new agreement, not only is there a cap, there is also a minimum.
Benson and all the owners have to spend about $107 million and change with
the cap at about $120 million and change. So that money is going to be
spent on players and how that get distributed is at the teams discretion.
That would give them $13 mil to play with between the high/low team salary range.
We have to field an entire team and not just a QB with no weapons or without protection.
I thought I read that we have about 20 million in cap space where other teams
have much more cash to bargain with. I'm already getting my mind right so when we
end up looking a whole lot different, I'm OK with it, especially if we are still
getting it done on the field.

You are right in a way, but wrong in another.

It is my understanding that it is Rita Benson nowadays, who is making most of the decisions from the owner's side, which is probably why the Saints are longer so stingy with the cash. She seems like a very intelligent business woman, who isn't afraid to spend money to make money - contrary to her car salesman father.

Not that I'm trying to steal your thunder or anything ... just if anyone else besides me is wondering exactly what the chances of 'death by meteorite' really are and to reassure everyone Brees will be resigned by your calculations ... :mrgreen:

"Astronomer Alan Harris has made that calculation. Allowing for the number of Earth-crossing asteroids — the kind that can hit us because their orbits around the Sun intersect ours — as well as how much damage they can do (which depends on their size), he calculated that any person’s lifetime odds of being killed by an asteroid impact are about 1 in 700,000."

Death by meteorite | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

I like the spirit, but I think your portrayal of Loomis and Payton as "gamblers" is way off the mark. They didn't "gamble" on Brees, or get lucky: it was a cold calculation, and they liked what they saw in '06, otherwise they would have NEVER pulled the trigger on it. They saw the potential there. New Orleans was also very comfortable with the risk-reward, based on Brees' rehabilitation from the injury. So they had some kind of data or medical opinion on that. Bill Parcells has always been a big fan of Brees and advised his former assistant, Sean Payton, to take Brees if he had the chance. That's not really "gambling" in my book. Your mentor and hero tells you to do it, that's about as far away from risky gambling as you can get.

I say the same thing when people talk about Jimmy Graham -- he wasn't a surprise or a "miracle" or it wasn't "luck" when he was found by this teams' coaching staff; they just looked at him AND SAW THE POTENTIAL. It's not luck or magic or gambling, it's just really exceptional football smarts.

Everyone please calm down. Why would the Saints want to dump Drew? That sounds like crazy talk! To loose Drew would be like Katrina hitting again. Drew wants to stay & the organization wants him to stay. Drew understands it is not all about him & the offense and that the defense is just as important to the success of the "Team". Something will get worked out. This team is on the verge of winning another superbowl or 2. It's not even close to time to rebuild this team.

Keep the faith!

"The chance of the Saints not re-signing Brees would rank 2nd behind death by meteroite."

The sky is falling...........the sky is falling.:nuts: