SmashMouth

My first reaction to quarterback Peyton Manning's reported five-year, $96 million deal with the Denver Broncos: The bar has just been raised even higher for the New Orleans Saints' quarterback Drew Brees.



Drew Brees and the Saints have been dragging out their contract standoff for months with no end in sight.
At $19 million per year, Manning's deal is the richest in NFL history, surpassing his five-year, $90 million deal with the Indianapolis Colts last year. Brees will get more than that, and he should.



My second reaction to Manning's deal: See how easy that was?

Manning and the Broncos worked out the finer points of that contract within 24 hours after he called them Monday morning to let them know they won the quarterback lottery.

Meanwhile, Brees and the Saints have been dragging out their contract standoff for months with no end in sight.

Brees' situation is different. Manning was an unrestricted free agent, free to sign anywhere he wanted, and Brees can't negotiate with any other teams since the Saints used the exclusive rights franchise tag on him. Still, it's the same general principle.

If Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and Brees' agent Tom Condon, who also represents Manning, decided to lock themselves in a room and get this deal done by tomorrow, they could.

Instead, both have chosen to draw a line in the sand, with the divide reportedly falling somewhere between $18.5 million and $23 million per year.

I get that. They haven't faced any real deadlines yet, and both sides are trying to create leverage and make the best deal possible. That's what they get paid to do.

read more

Attached Thumbnails