WhoDat!656

First, other than rookie receiver Nick Toon, no one should really care if Drew Brees is quarterbacking the Saints during Organized Team Activities, or during full-squad minicamps with the Saints. (If they were really important, there wouldn't be a "mini" prefixing "camps.") So with opening day 16 weeks from yesterday, I'm not going to be too concerned about Brees missing time until, say, about Aug. 20. Reason being: He's such a pro, and he's commanding a veteran offense, and the only new piece likely to play any role with 30 or more touches (and that could be a stretch) is Toon, the fourth-rounder from Wisconsin. So let's keep in perspective the fact that Brees and the team are conflicted over the lack of a new contract.

But I'm going to show you some numbers, and then I'm going to make a point about why I think Brees is more in the right in this case of Saints vs. Brees in the big-money department.

These are the numbers of three top quarterbacks in football over the past six years. (I exclude Aaron Rodgers because he's played only since 2008, and Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger because they haven't been great for as long as these three.) It's hard to look at this list and divine that Peyton Manning, over the past six years, has been $25.7 million better than Drew Brees, and Tom Brady $14.3 million better.

Stats of Brees, Brady and Peyton Manning since 2006, football and monetary, follow. The "NFL earnings'' category includes money earned since March 2006 through the end of the 2011 season. Brady's yards per season number includes the one quarter he played in 2008 before being lost for the season with a torn knee ligament; but his total yards was divided by five seasons, not six.


QB Super Bowl Wins Games Missed Comp. % Yds/Season TD-INT Rating NFL Earnings

Brees 1 1 .678 4,732.3 201-93 98.5 $60.0M

Brady 0 15 .656 4,388.8 177-49 103.7 $74.3M

Manning 1 16 .665 4,327.8 155-68 96.9 $85.7M


One other point: On Opening Day, Brees will be 33, Brady 35 and Manning 36. That matters too.

The Saints feel they should be credited for taking a medical risk with Brees in 2006. He was coming off serious shoulder reconstruction, and no team was willing to offer him $10 million a year. True. But by almost any measure Brees outplayed his contract. He's been the most statistically productive quarterback, and he didn't miss any significant time; Brady and Manning each missed a season due to injury.

So what is Brees worth? He doesn't have the medical red flag of Manning. It's easy to argue he'll be healthier longer than either other player, obviously because he's younger, but also because he hasn't had anything notably wrong with him since the end of the 2005 season.

One more thing: When you look at the earnings of the three men, remember that Brady's bottom line in some ways has been depressed slightly because of his unwillingness to be a pig in negotiations. He hasn't gotten jobbed, but he's never been a bandit either.

Manning, coming off a dangerous neck injury and surgery, is making $18 million this year. Brady, who signed his deal 20 months ago, is entering the third year of a contract paying an average of $18 million a year.

Brees is younger, has been more durable, has been more productive ... and the Saints are entering a season unlike any a quarterback has ever had to pilot through, considering the suspensions and unrest in New Orleans. I think the Saints will pay him before the middle of August, and it'll be somewhere around $21 million a year. Looking at the precedents, that's only fair.



Read more: Making sense of LeSean McCoy signing; wondering how much Drew Brees is worth - Peter King - SI.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

QBREES9

They offered to make Drew the Highest Paid Player in the League he turned it down. OK What do you next ?

|Mitch|

You make him the highest paid player x2! LOL I'm joking of course

QBREES9

LOL

jnormand

Actually....that makes a lot of sense. Brees is statistically a better quarterback, he's younger too. He should be paid more than both Manning and Brady.

dizzle88

He's worth more than Brady and manning and we offered him more than those two, but it still wasn't enough for him

WhoDat!656

Brees wants the contract front-loaded, since this will probably be the last contract of his NFL career.

jeanpierre

Right now, I want no one other than Drew Brees as our quarterback; but not at the price that limits success...

In relation to the aforementioned quarterbacks?

How many League MVPs does Drew have?

How many Superbowl Titles has he won?

Just as the players on offense owe a great deal of success to being in the Saints Offensive system, so does Drew...

He was shown no greater deal of secure money to come to New Orleans when San Diego let 'em geaux and Miami made a crawfish offer...

And he needs an agent other than Bill Condon whose self-interest is limited to the contracts on the trophy wall he needs to point to in front of potential clients precludes a Salary Cap assignment that allows a number of talented players from being on the same team...

Look at Condon's recent most recent body of work; Alex Smith seems to be turning the corner and Condon ethically comprised his client's efforts to gain leverage to find Manning his contract; Drew Brees was even put on hold while he took care of Manning, who's still the big fish in the QB pool among agents...

Denver has got to win this year because the longer Manning is there, the less chance Denver has to win it - and do you really think Denver is going to win this year?!?

Drew, in his approach to these contract negotiations for a deal that allows the Saints Team to have players like Graham and potential FAs on the roster, has to strongly consider these points:

(1) Is there more total money and success in near-term endorsements (present to three years out) by quarterbacking a Superbowl Winning Team?

(2) Being the first quarterback to win on his true homefield and securing a second Superbowl without his Head Coach, where would that secure his place in NFL History and long term "return"?

(3) Remind everyone, including San Diego, that he's no longer 1D, or even the "I am No. 4" option, to the Rodgers, Manning, Brady debate...

(4) He's got to continue to accept his sacrifices, assume his mantle of leadership and ignore the near-sighted Condon's advice which is totally void of any consideration other than Gordon Gecko mantra that "greed is good".

For Drew Brees, his NFL Career will geaux beyond his playing days if continued success includes another Superbowl Trophy will be greater than the couple of extra million now...

Brees has to outmaneuver his own agent if he's to secure long-term security for his own self-interests and he better recognize this sooner for himself before he costs himself dearly...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

alleycat_126

Rename the state "LouBreesisiana"!!!!!, Also the change the name of the Basketball team, call them the New Orleans Breeze!!!! Fire Mayor Mitch Landrieu ( just let him keep all the mayoral duties ) and hire Drew to be the Mayor of the city ( In name only)

Making light of a bad situation always helps for a little while!!!

Cruize

Hire him as the GM of the Hornets. Pay him the extra 3-5 million he's wanting. Problem solved.