Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

You have to meet face to face to talk money? Since when? You're telling me that it has nothing to do with Norman giving the Saints a number and subsequently having the proverbial door shut in his face, but rather that it was because he didn't look them in the eyes first? Not buying that.

Furthermore, the talk of Brees negotiating to help sign Norman has never been proven as anything but speculation. I find it convenient that this is your hard evidence, when any other time you poo poo any report that comes out as being unreliable.

But again, I was clear that I don't care about not getting Norman. It's about all the other players. Whether it be that the Saints missed out or simply had no interest in them, I think that's a mistake, as I just stated in another thread.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

I'm just saying that the Brees extension has not been a factor in any FA deal or non-deal. Brees himself said he told Payton that he wanted Norman and would do whatever it took. Several sources beyond Brees indicated the same.

And, no, you don't have to meet face to face to talk money, but meeting face to face is what it takes to usually get a deal done. For whatever reason Washington got that advantage.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

If we signed Norman to a deal that high I would have started a fire Mickey campaign.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Well I haven't read any direct quote from Brees, himself, on the matter. Only people saying that Brees told Ed Werder that. But assuming Brees did say it, I'm not sure it's anything more than PR. I don't say that to demonize Drew. It's kind of a normal practice in negotiations. I'm not sure why Norman would be so much more important to Brees than any of the other previously available free agents. We have Keenan Lewis coming back from injury, and Delvin Breaux. What the secondary lacks is quality depth and the ability to stay healthy. The latter of which is unpredictable. There was not an immediate need for Norman.

But Norman listed the Saints in his final two. So that kind of makes it easier for Brees to come out after the fact and say that he was willing to do whatever.

Back to the meeting face to face thing, you have to be present to do a physical and SIGN a deal, but I don't know that having a verbal agreement takes all of that.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

I tend to believe multiple sources especially when sources report that it came straight from Brees and Payton. And I also don't believe Brees to be the type of person to lie to try to make himself seem more likable.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

There are almost always multiple "sources", and they tend to claim that it comes from the horses mouth. Sometimes it's true and sometimes it isn't. I think the discussion did happen, but my point is that you often dismiss reports. And I didn't call Brees a liar. Agents are the one's that orchestrate all of the banter. And then again, maybe Brees really said it, and really meant it. But I don't believe much of what I hear during negotiations.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

There have been some very good points made. What I bring away from this is Brees holds all the cards. Will he hold our feet to the fire again? God, I hope not. Brees is a good man who loves to give back to the community. But he has to have it to spend it.

Brees left San Diego after he played out the last year of his contract because he wanted more money on the open market. He blew out his shoulder and only two teams wanted him. I doubt he wants to do that again. Drew thought he might never make another big contract. He has a family after all and wants to provide for them. He played his first contract at a cheap rate on a prove it deal. Then he held out to get the most money he could when it came time for negotiations and it got kinda' ugly. Although, I believe he's earned every penny he's been paid.

A lot of people get angry at Drew for taking up 30 million of the salary cap. Drew didn't write that contract or kick the can down the road with a back loaded contract. He simply signed the contract and then went out and put up more HOF numbers. He has offered to renegotiate numerous times. But honestly what happens is the FO writes the player a large check then and writes it off over the long haul.iirc Brady restructures all the time. But as I understand it he gets paid handsomely to do so. I believe Drew's agent(Rosenhaul?) is notorious for strong arming teams by holding out and other such tactics. Not that Drew would do that this year.....even though he's done it in the past.

If the FO hadn't write several ludicrous contracts recently we would not be worried about it as much if our dead money was available to spend on upgrading the team.

The FO has a plan and doesn't want to deviate from it too much by reworking Drew's deal all the time to get some immediate funding for players like Josh Norman. They are sticking to their plan.

Also, I don't doubt that there is a deal in place and we are waiting until after the draft for a deal to get done.

I will say this it is hard to win Championships with so much money tied up in one position.........especially if you draft poorly and have no depth. We have to choose where to spend our cap money and choose wisely. :bng:

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

I want to clarify one point here. Brees got a lot of grief over that off-season when he was said to have "held out". The facts are that Brees was both the guinea pig and the scapegoat in that whole ordeal. The player's union and the league office were at odds over the status of franchise tags. Everyone knows the first time a player is franchised by a team it is for something along the lines of the average of the top five at the position. The second time it goes up by a sizable percentage. Brees had been tagged by the Chargers earlier and the player's union wanted him to delay signing a deal so the Saints would be forced to put the franchise on him. The league contended that since it was a different franchise (team) the tag should be at the first level, while the NFLPA said it should be applied at the second level and the fact that it was a different franchise that levied the tag had no impact. Brees agreed to hold off on signing a deal until the dispute could be resolved through litigation. Brees and the Saints had basically come to an agreement on the terms of the contract, but Brees felt it was best for the good of future players to wait to sign.

Brees caught all of the hell for this and was called greedy, etc. He happened to be the right person in the right place at the right time to help challenge this situation. If you remember, he signed almost immediately after the dispute was resolved and the NFLPA won. Brees has been enduring the aftermath of that event ever since ... unfairly.