onebyone

I love Brees. Without him, well, I don't even want to think about how bad we would be. I do not think he is overpaid or selfish either.

That said, there is no question he was one of the key reasons we lost last night. It's not all on him, but he gets a slice of the failure pie with 2 cherries on top.

LivnaLieTimay

Some people will never be happy, Brees is one of the best QB's in the league. Yes, the pick 6 to end the first half was brutal and he's had some other bad moments throughout the year but without Brees this team is not even close to being in the playoff hunt.

lynwood

Can't win every season. The fact we are still talking about making the playoffs this season is amazing in itself. Without Brees I doubt it would come up.

QBREES9

You win as a team you Lose as a team. Thats it.

subguy

I am really glad we have Brees. That said he sucked against the Niners. He should shoulder a great deal of the fault for the loss. Drew is still one of the best and all players perform poorly from time to time, but his timing was bad in this instance.

FinSaint

To all of those saying that without Brees this team would be a 2 win team at best... I don't know if that is necessarily the case, because if Brees wasn't the QB of the Saints, they would have someone else play that spot other than Daniel. Now, I know that Brees is by far the best QB the Saints have ever had and one of the best QBs to ever play the game, but, still it isn't like if the Saints didn't have Brees as their QB they'd suit up Daniel instead.

I know there weren't many potential QB FAs available last offseason, but maybe a certain veteran QB could've been interested in playing in a city where his father played before him if it were reported early that Brees wasn't re-signing with the Saints?!

Brees makes this team better, but that doesn't mean that we can't be critical of his performances when they are below what is realistic to expect from a player of his caliber - I know he probably feels that way himself.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

AlaskaSaints

I'm thrilled that Drew Brees is a Saint, however there are 31 other starting QB's in the league and quite a few of them have whipped our azz this year. You don't HAVE to be Drew Brees to win a Superbowl. There have been, what, 46 Superbowls won WITHOUT Drew Brees. Imagine that. I know a couple Mannings who have gotten back more than twice. The total DOLT Ben Roethlisburger gets Super Bowl repeats, for Christ's sake.

Love me some #9, but all this Superman shat is fantasy. When he stinks one up, he really stinks it up.

Really, the only thing he does CONSISTENTLY is start and throw at least ONE TD per game.

Again; LOVE me some Drew. But let's keep it real.

Alaska

HERE WE COME, TA GE' CHU!!!!

alleycat_126

Will Smith
Jonathan Vilma
Roman Harper ( trade bait)
Scott Shanle

just a few!!!!

xan

As of now, the Saints are $25 million over $121 million cap:

Player 2013 Salary
QB Drew Brees $17.40 million
DE Will Smith $14.50m
G Jahri Evans $9.86m
LB Jonathan Vilma $8.63m
WR Marques Colston $6.60m
G Ben Grubbs $7.30m
S Roman Harper $7.10m
LB Curtis Lofton $7.10m
CB Jabari Greer $5.42m
LB David Hawthorne $4.76m
DT Brodrick Bunkley $4.70m
WR Lance Moore $4.47m
CB Malcolm Jenkins $3.88m
RB Darren Sproles $3.75m

14 players, $105.47 million out of $121 million.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

DT SEDRICK ELLIS - 2012 salary cap number: $7.6 million

LB SCOTT SHANLE - 2012 salary cap number: $2.25 million

LB JONATHAN CASILLAS - 2012 salary cap number: $1.26 million

DE TURK MCBRIDE - 2012 salary cap number: $1 million

RESTRICTED FREE AGENT:

DE JUNIOR GALETTE - 2012 salary cap number: $500,000


MOST LIKELY TO BE RELEASED OR RESTRUCTURED:

DE WILL SMITH - Signed through: 2014
2012 salary cap number: $5.3 million
2013 cap number: $14.5 million
2013 salary plus bonuses: $10.2 million
If released: Saints would be charged $6.8 million in pro-rated signing bonuses over 2013 and 2014

LB JONATHAN VILMA - Signed through 2013
2012 salary cap number: $4.9 million
2013 cap number: $8.6 million
2013 salary plus bonuses: $6 million
If released: Saints would be charged $2.6 million in pro-rated signing bonuses in 2013

LB DAVID HAWTHORNE - Signed through: 2016
2012 salary cap number: $1.5 million
2013 cap number: $4.8 million
2013 salary plus bonuses: $4 million
If released: Saints would be charged $3 million in pro-rated signing bonuses over 2013 and 2014

So, even if you dump the players mentioned (Smith-3.4, Vilma-3.4, Harper(rs)-2.0 and Shanle-2.25), you're going to have to find $14 million, but consider that you have to replace those players, plus a few others, and we're looking at losing quite a few players from this current roster.

Face it, this team got top heavy. Look at perennial playoff teams like the Steelers, Patriots and Giants, and they don't have these problems. I realize that "keeping the band together" is a great sentiment, but value must = production. It may not be all Brees' fault, but he's showing that he's not Manning, or Brady, or (gasp) Rothlesburger.

We are going to be rebuilding for a least 3 years. Loomis is not a miracle worker.

Calvin: "I wish I was a Tiger."
Hobbes: "Common lament."

SaintsBro

#4 in yards per game
#5 in completions
#1 in TD's (31)
#9 in yards per completion
#7 in QB rating (98.5)
#8 in total offense (team)

Yeah you're right -- all the dude does is just show up and throw his touchdown pass. Let's keep it real...he is throwing 2.8 TDs per game, not ONE. Clearly the top 5 QB in their top 10 offense is to blame for the Saints record this year. /FAIL