And that player can always decide to fire the agent he is with. With how active Drew was in the lock-out you really thing he is not sitting at the table with his agent saying yes or no... really. Lets face it Drew is not who we thought he was but that is our fault no one could hold themselves to the standard that we put on Drew (Bresus)...

Why is this a bad thing...

Brees will now only count for 14mil against the cap and with Smith re-structuring and possible re-structures/cuts with Ellis and Vilma we could sign everyone back and be in the running for massive upgrades on the defensive side of the ball.

Worst case is another team signs Brees. However, we still get the 2 first round draft picks and enough money to sign matt flynn securing the future of the team.

The tag is a win-win for the Saints only loser right now is Brees.

Not only am I not shocked by the tag, I fully expected it. There was no way that they would come to a deal without both parties making a valid effort. Condon had no intention of giving the Saints a chance of tagging Nicks and the only way to accomplish that was to force the Saints to tag Brees instead. You could see it from a thousand miles away. Loomis was given no shot whatsoever.

That is the way all agencies handle these things. Players hires agents to handle everything. If it wasn't for agents most players would play for much less. The Agent protects the player's interest by maximizing the contract. That's his job and to be able to do his job the player has to agree to be hands off.

You can't just fire your agent.

I can understand your though process, but I can't completely agree with your perception of the issue.

If, as you claim, Brees has left the whole matter of negotiating his contract in the hands of Condon without giving him any guidelines to follow or reserving any oversight over the decisions made - why would Brees make a statement like "I want to see the team's competitiveness preserved" and directly stating that it is important to take into account the signing of other key FAs when negotiating the details of his contract?

I mean, if he couldn't affect the way the actual negotiations proceeded or the details involved, why would he make such a statement, which implied he could in effect do so?

Sure you can. It happens all the time.

Not in the middle of contract negotiations. The only time I have heard of players firing agents is when the agent couldn't get what the player wanted. I have never heard of a player firing an agent for getting too much. That's just plain dumb.

And in what way does what he said counter what is going on? The fact is that even if an $18 million deal per year was agreed upon it would have killed any chance at signing both Nicks and Colston. Now they have a chance with the lower tag amount.

Besides, he can mean what he said but that doesn't mean it was possible.

And in what way does what he said counter what is going on? The fact is that even if an $18 million deal per year was agreed upon it would have killed any chance at signing both Nicks and Colston. Now they have a chance with the lower tag amount.

Besides, he can mean what he said but that doesn't mean it was possible.