I don't think it makes sense that this Brees situation would be a smoke screen. If this deal had gotten done sooner, the Saints would have been in play for some quality free agents. Why would you purposefully drag this out for the mere POSSIBILITY that it will help you get the player you want in the draft, and then hope that player works out?

All the buzz about wanting this guy, or that guy, or trading up for the 1st pick... That's the kind of smoke screen you can do. You don't screw yourself in free agency on purpose, just for the off chance it might help you in the draft. That would be a really dumb strategy.

“Do I want to sign an extension? Yes, I do. Do the Saints feel that way? Yes. Do the fans feel that way? Yes. So we all agree on that,” Brees said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, is sign an extension that would not only keep me there but also reallocate money so that it opens cap room in various ways that would kind of fit the team and what we need. ... So I would say we’re all being pro-active in that way.

“There’s no timeline or deadline to this. It’s very open-ended,” Brees added. “Maybe once the draft occurs and now you’ve got kind of all the pieces in place that you feel like, this is what we need and this is our team moving forward, then you’re in a better position to predict the cap for this year, next year and so forth.”

There is no "Brees situation". The Brees extension, which I guarantee will take place, has always been in a position to be completed AFTER the draft as I have been preaching for months. In an interview yesterday Brees came right out and said the exact same thing saying ...



Everything is right on track. Stop worrying, everybody.

There is a discussion ongoing, centered around Drew Brees. Therefore I will call it the Brees "situation" if I jolly well please. My point, in case you missed it (you did), was that this is no smoke screen. I did not say no deal will be done. I'm sure it will be done.

Rookie contracts are not that big of a deal. I see no point in waiting till after the draft, simply for that reason. I'm a fan of building through both the draft and free agency. I don't like an all in on one or the other, philosophy. Our Super Bowl season will show you the balance of how that team was constructed. Lot's of key free agents, and draftees. Plus Vilma, via trade.

This isn't like Major league Baseball, where you have 40 freaking rounds to stockpile every year, to build with, and to use prospects as currency.

First of all, rookie contracts are still a bit of a deal if you are interested in trading back up into the first round for a second pick. And free agency is not yet over. There are still a number of possibilities out there that teams are waiting on to find out how they did with the draft. Trades are also a possibility. There is no reason to finalize the Brees deal before the draft unless it became necessary. It could have if Norman became an option for the Saints, but he settled with Washington right out of the gate and never even gave the Saints a chance.

Oh, and I got your point about the smoke screen. Most of my reply was guided toward other members around here.

There should be more of a plan in place in terms of the draft. With the limits on what rookies can make, you should be able to ballpark an idea of what you'll be spending. Set a high water mark on what you would reasonably spend on the draft, and negotiate with your current players under those parameters. What's to stop Brees and management from going back and tweeking his deal a little bit, which ever direction, after the draft? I'm not aware of any rule that prohibits re-working a deal multiple times in an off season.

This is all assuming that they ever had an intention of signing any other free agents. If they ACTUALLY had no interest, then I think that's a mistake.

Why "retweak" when you can wait and know exactly what is needed, not to mention that all contracts have to get the approval of the league and I'm not sure how they look upon tweaking. And I have a feeling that if the Saints don't fill their needs through the draft that FA moves will be made.

The answer to your question can be found in multiple posts that I've just made. It would have made sense in terms of being in play for more free agents. Now it doesn't really matter. There are guys out there, but not top shelf one's. I'm not talking about 100 million dollar guys. It would have been nice to make a play on someone like Derek Wolfe or Terrance Knighton.

By the way, I don't think the league has a problem with tweaking a deal. The Saints do it all the time.