I agree with your sentiment. Blaming Brees and his contract for the decline of the Saints is an easy way to absolve the front office for its lack of foresight. Brees's contract was a looming issue for three seasons before he became a free agent. Either the front office didn't care or they were naive in their belief that Brees would not seek market value. Even in seeking that value, Brees gave them a very flexible deal in the first three years. These last two are the paying of the piper.

What the front office should have done was in the season following the Super Bowl, they should have offered to renegotiate with Brees and pay him more in the final years of his previous deal in exchange for some guaranteed years at a lower cost in the future. They chose to ride out the deal he signed when he first came to New Orleans and in return have to deal with that now and in the future. That isn't Drew's fault, it's on the front office for its lack of either foresight (which I doubt) or concern.