Another Payton Magic Trick
 

So currently, we're up in the air with Brees, Nicks, Colston, the salary cap, bounties and a few other things. Two of them we cannot control: salary cap space and the bounty investigation.

Is there any chance this is a Loomis/Payton magic trick of misdirection? Is there anything to benefit the Saints by waiting til the last minute to sign top FA's? Or perhaps its a magic trick by Condon to allow his other FA in Manning the looming possibility of Brees becoming a bargaining chip? That idea hasn't even been brought up by the media, but I can see both doing it.

I certainly wouldn't rule out bringing Manning here. Although, I don't see that happening. He's the same age as Drew(roughly) and Drew is healthy.

He isn't even scheduled to visit NO, so I don't think the Saints are in the Manning hunt.

The Manning "looming possibility" it about 0.0002 %. If you want to call that a possibility..... feel free.

Manning is 2-3 years older than Brees; and I'd argue not as good either. Especially not after 4? neck surgeries...

I don't see any chance of that happening. If Condon is representing both QB's wouldn't it be a conflict of interest?

I didn't mean bringing Manning here, I meant Condon thought other teams might think they could snag Brees or maybe his UFA status would make OTHER TEAMS (Denver, Miami, etc) think they initially had a shot and now their only option is Manning. Get it?

It is just the nature of the beast, with Unrestricted Free Agents, that anything the Saints offer to an unrestricted free agent player will be compared to what other teams will offer the same player...that takes time.... So there is no real benefit to the Saints, by making their offer right out the gate, early at the start of free agency, because, then other teams will have more time to make their offers, and they will already know what the Saints offers are, so they can offer more. It is better for the Saints to quietly decide what they can afford, figure out what the Saints' offer is going to be, and then stick to it, and not get into an escalating bidding war unless they really really need the player.

Personally, I am starting to get a feeling that the Brees deal will get done the minute that Nicks is officially signed elsewhere. That's what I think the holdup is. Maybe it won't even get done until July, depending on how long it takes Nicks to make up his mind.