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After months of wondering, "Why are the Drew Brees contract talks taking so long," only one question remains: "What the hell took so long?"


Friday was a winning deal for all involved, especially New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and quarterback Drew Brees.
Brees' five-year, $100 million deal was such an obvious win-win-win for the player, the team and the Who Dat Nation that Friday felt like a local holiday. A rainbow even broke out on top of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Friday afternoon, for crying out loud.

All that talk of "market value" and "leverage" over the past five months seems so silly now.

Everyone involved in the negotiations, every fan and most every media analyst spent Friday congratulating both sides on the deal. And virtually no one suggested that either side got the raw end.

In the end, the New Orleans Saints wound up caving a little more than Brees did. The team strongly believed that its previous offer of $19.25 million per year was more than fair - and it had valid reasons for that stance. However, General Manager Mickey Loomis ultimately decided it wasn't worth the risk or the headaches to keep fighting over that final $750,000 per year, among other details.

And now that it's done, there's no way the Saints are feeling a bit of buyer's remorse.

If any player has ever been worth $20 million per year, it's Brees. He means so much to the team on the field and off that it's virtually impossible to overpay him.

Likewise, Brees and agent Tom Condon made some concessions, coming down from previous pitches of closer to $21 million per year. But there's no way they're feeling shortchanged.

As for the Who Dat Nation, well, they're just so relieved it finally got done that they're ready to immediately absolve everyone for those months of anguish.

This whole sordid mess will be a distant memory by the time Week 1 rolls around and the Saints are hosting the Washington Redskins inside the Dome - with or without the rainbow.

With Brees behind center, the Saints are cemented as the front-runners in the NFC South, and they're one of the three or four top contenders for the NFC title.

There's been a lot of talk this summer about how the severe bounty punishments could threaten the Saints' season. And there have been a few early projections of records like 9-7 and 10-6.

Those people obviously forgot how ridiculously good the Saints' offense is right now.

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QBREES9

A deal did get done !!!!!

Rugby Saint II

It was a win for everyone involved........except for the players who will get cut or have to restructure so that Drew can be in the locker room.

Seer1

This contract/cap s**t makes no sense to me, but it looks like there's gonna be more cap space now than there would've been had he just signed the tender.

pumpkindriver

From what I've read, everything about this deal is fine for both sides. Yes, maybe some deals with have to be restructured in 2014, maybe some players will have to be let go. But we all know how good Mickey is at finding quality players so I am not overly worried about that. The the bottom line is this, with Drew we are SB contenders, without Drew, we are the cleveland browns.

TheOak

New Orelans has I believe 6-7 Million more in cap space now than if Drew had signed the tender...

Lets worry about next years drama next year.... We still have a pot or two on the burners for this year.