Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints

NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees asserts that his contract talks with the Saints haven’t hampered the club’s ability to acquire top free agents this offseason because he is committed to negotiating an extension that would improve the Saints’ financial flexibility.

The quarterback said in an interview with the Associated Press that he was “on board” with New Orleans’ recent bid to sign former Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, who decided to play instead for Washington, signing a five-year deal with the Redskins worth up to $75 million. Brees dismissed the notion that uncertainty surrounding his own contract undermined New Orleans’ ability to compete for Norman’s services.

“We all understand that’s not the case,” Brees said. “He went to Washington as his first visit. And if you know anything about free agency, usually, that’s the visit where, once you’re in that office, the deal’s getting done and Washington is a place where, historically, you’d say Washington’s got the deepest pockets.

“From my perspective, we made a pretty strong push to try to get him and obviously I was on board 100 percent and willing to do whatever we needed to do,” Brees added.

...

“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.”

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This is exactly what I have been saying for the last two plus months.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Trade him, trade that greedy basterd right now!!! /sarcasm

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Free Agency is essentially done, it makes no sense to extend Brees at this time, none whatsoever...

Let him play the season out with two possible outcomes...

If Brees and Saints have a stand-out season, Condon and Brees are going to insist that Brees is highest paid quarterback anyways...

Should Brees aging continue to accelerate and he breaks down, then you and the coaching staff have faced the reality that all good things must end and it's time to move on...

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

It hasn't hampered our ability to acquire free agents this off season? All the top players are off the market now. I can't say I have the utmost confidence in our front office to make good decisions in free agency, but without a deal being reached with Drew, it doesn't exactly open up any opportunities. Is there any reason to rush NOW? No, obviously not. But to say it didn't hurt anything by not getting it done sooner is not accurate. I love Drew, but that's just a convenient thing for him to say, at this point.

I'm not really angry about his contract situation, but I do take exception to this particular comment by him.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Name one top free agent that we were not able to get that the front office was interested in. And don't say Josh Norman because he settled with his very first contact, the Redskins, and never even gave the Saints a chance.

What you fail to comprehend is that the basics of a deal are already in place with Brees. The final amount of cap space required is the only piece remaining and that will not be known until after the draft. They could have easily made a deal with Norman, or for that fact, any other free agent.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

What are you calling BS on? Surely not what Brees said. The front office and Brees both have repeatedly stated that an extension was going to get done. The point is there is no reason to do it before it is needed.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

No sense to extend? If Brees and the Saints have a standout season, Condon will be able to hold it over the Saints heads. They will not be able to make as good a deal as they could have with an earlier extension.

Secondly, they know Brees and his body much better than any of us and if they agree with Brees and feel he definitely has several more years of production left, forgoing an extension would be idiotic.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

Any free agent who has the potential to make a significant impact is of interest. How often does the team come out and say who they are interested in? What would be the point of that?

And I don't really care about the Norman thing, because he isn't worth the money he got. Not when compared to this team's overall needs. But I'm curious. On what authority do you think you know that he never gave the Saints a chance? I'm sure he gave them a chance, and his number was too high. That's not difficult to comprehend. I'm glad the Saints didn't give in to his demands.

What YOU fail to comprehend, ole friend, is that I have never stated that a deal wouldn't get done, or that one was not in place. I have no idea if one is in place, and neither do you. But if one is indeed in place, which it could be, then I do not agree with the approach of waiting til after the draft. I've already outlined the reasons why.

I'm sure you'll be telling me that it doesn't matter what I think. So let me get out ahead of you, and remind you that this forum is for discussion, and every single person here understands that our opinions are not, and never will be under consideration by management. Most of us have seen enough football to recognize what kind of philosophies work. We've seen teams fail miserably with certain plans, and succeed with others. That's how we form our opinions. The fact that I disagree with something does not make me ignorant of it. You have a hard time understanding that.

Re: Drew Brees: Pace of talks not hurting Saints
 

The fact that Payton had a discussion with Brees about the extension when Norman first came available meant Brees was not the reason Norman isn't a Saint. The Saints, and everyone else, had an idea of what it would take to get a deal done, but nothing has a chance of getting done without meeting face to face. The ONLY franchise that Norman gave that chance to was the Redskins, therefore, he never even gave the Saints, or any others, a chance.

I never said you personally didn't think a deal would be made with Brees. As I pointed out, that was directed more at others. But, I see no advantage whatsoever of finalizing the deal (if already agreed to in principle as I fully believe) until every single factor of cap space requirements for the 2016 season are known. The ONLY reason to do so before the draft is over is if it is required to make a free agency move. To this point that has not been necessary.

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.