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Can't see Brees slowing down any time soon. Now or after the season Brees will get 20-25 mil a year over 3 or 4 years.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Scott,

That is true to a degree. 5 years ago it was the largest contract in NFL history. But that 5 years is up and once again it's time to fish or cut bait.

All the evidence over the last 5 years, including last year, indicates that Brees is a top 3 NFL QB.

Quarterbacks are the highest paid players in the NFL. According to this site:

NFL's richest contracts for 2015 | NFL.com

out of the top 17 contracts, only 2 were not QBs. The highest non QB player was Suh at #10. And according to these 2016 averages:

NFL Salary Rankings | Spotrac

Brees is 10th with 9 QBs ahead of him. Now honestly, does anyone think that all of the 9 QBs ahead of Brees are deserving of more dollars? Three of them (Rivers, Ryan, Newton) do not even have a SuperBowl Ring. However, each and every one of them has signed a new contract or extension since Brees did in 2012.

Contract negotiation is an adversarial process. Each side wants to maximize the contract benefit. And for the most part it's a zero sum game, so whatever is added to one side takes something away from the other.

What Strief is saying, I believe, is that Brees' value to the organization is worth the market value of the top 2 or 3 QBs currently in the NFL. That number is hovering just about $22 million a year. And if Brees is allowed on the open market, it'll likely jump to $25 million easily IMHO. I mean who was the last healthy NFL QB to lead the league in passing and then change teams?

I also have the opinion that many think that the numbers are eye popping and extravagant. But the vast wealth of the NFL really belies that argument. The NFL is pulling in $12+ billion in revenue:

NFL revenue: Here comes another record season - Sep. 10, 2015

according to the terms of the current CBA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...2011_agreement

nearly half that revenue must be distributed to the players. That's $6+ billion a year distributed among no more that 2500 people. The CBA also specifies that at least 89% of the salary cap average over a 4 year rolling period must be distributed to the players. In short, the money is both there and it has to be paid out. And most importantly, if the Saints choose not to pay, which is certainly their right not to do, that there are at least a dozen teams in the NFL that would likely have both the capability and desire to cash in. This is what I keep saying when I point out that the market dictates the price point, not the player or his agent.

Finally considering the fact that the 7 QBs on the top 10 of that 2016 list have won 12 of the last 15 Superbowls (exceptions of 2 for Peyton Manning, and Brad Johnson is 2003 with the Bucs), I feel it is difficult to overstate the value of a top flight QB in this league.

I'm just suggesting take it in context. Brees' run the last 10 years has to be ranked in the top 2-3 runs in NFL history or that length. Qbs like that simply do not fall off trees. I believe that Stief is saying, and I agree, that Brees deserves each and every penny he is paid to lead one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Looking at the numbers, the range is likely to be $22-25 million.

SFIAH

Rugby Saint II

It's the guaranteed money for an older player that I have a problem with. Make it an incentive driven contract for the last couple of years and earn the money Drew! What's not fair about that?

AsylumGuido

What is not fair about that is that the top QB's are all getting deals with greater and greater percentages of guarantees. Either the Saints give him the contract he completely deserves or he will definitely get it elsewhere leaving the Saints totally high and dry with another decade of 4-12, 3-13, maybe 5-11 campaigns. Now why in the hell would we ever want that as fans?

But all of this is moot, because giving Brees the contract he deserves will not hamper the Saints one iota given the current landscape of the cap in the NFL. Therefore, whatever he gets paid shouldn't matter to us as fans at all. It is meaningless.

ScottF

Yes-
the newer contracts will continue to set the bar, just as Brees' did 4 years ago (as did a Vikings DB yesterday). Two points though- all of the QB's 1-9 are younger, and the dollar difference between 1-10 is only $2.2 million per year.
Should the oldest guy on the list get $25 m per, just because he is up for a new contract? Condon would say yes, but he also has Eli and Ryan to worry about.

I would be thrilled if Brees signed for 3-4 years at $23 million per, but I do not see him doing that.
He is a stat guy, and I expect the salary stat means a lot to him. Whether the money does or not, none of us know.

Your points on revenue sharing and the cap are spot-on. I am advocate of a significantly higher cap and roster expansion. My caveat would be a position cap as well, just to insure that a $500,000 guy isn't snapping the ball to a $50,000,000 guy.

SaintFanInATLHELL

IMHO it's not about fair. I feel safe saying as a fact that no QB in NFL history has had a run in the last 10 years that Brees has had. Brees could retire today and go into the HOF. And his last year was just as good as many of the others.

So, in my opinion, he has nothing to prove. And more importantly, it is likely that none of the rest of the teams in the NFL that are interested in his services will ask him to prove anything.

Prove it contracts are for the underperforming or the injured. RG3 in Cleveland is an example. The current contract for Nick Fairly is an example.

Brees is neither In my opinion it would be an insult to offer him one. And I believe that if such an insulting contract were offered, Brees would laugh and walk away, as he should.

I will keep saying not to get it twisted and think there is a significant value to being a part of the Saints organization. That value belongs to us as fans. Players don't have that luxury. Ask Jimmy Graham or Kenny Stills about that. Here one day as a Saint, gone the next. I have been a Saints fan for more than 40 years. I'll die a Saints fan. I can afford to be invested. But I also understand that players cannot because it is a professional and business situation for them.

So while I think that you feel that "Brees should take a prove it contract in order to remain a Saint." makes sense to you, in the reality of the NFL as a business and a profession, it makes absolutely no sense. It is likely that Brees' next contract will be his last as a professional football player. As with each and every contract that every player signs, they need to maximize the benefit of that contract because there is no guarantee that they will get another opportunity. And it is almost certainly a fact for Brees.

Who among us would turn down a 20% raise along with a hefty signing bonus just to stay loyal to the current organization we are in? I'd be gone so fast you'd wonder where I went and why the chair is still spinning...

Where Brees is likely to give a bit may be on the years. But it's unlikely there will be a lot of movement on the guaranteed money. So Brees may concede and sign for 3 years for example, whereas on the open market he'd likely be looking for 5 years. He may also concede a balloon salary payment in the last year with essentially all the rest of the money guaranteed and paid in the first two years.

A concession contract may be something like 3 years, $75 million, $50 million guaranteed paid in the first two years. Essentially it's a 2 year contract at $25 million a year with the first two years guaranteed with the Saints having the option to pay Brees for the third year.

But that's Brees conceding in order to stay. The team would be getting a bargain.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

CheramieIII

If would benefit Drew to get the deal done as quickly as possible. Anything can happen between now and the start of next season, anything. Drew stands to lose a lot more by letting the negotiation or should I say no negotiation to drag on. In my opinion of course! lol

SmashMouth

If he produces as he has been, no harm no foul. I just wonder how the cap handles it if all incentives are met.

CheramieIII

Great question!