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.

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.

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!

spkb25

Fair has nothing to do with it. It is called leverage. Players get whatever they can leverage. Teams look at value vs production. If a player costs too much they are allowed to walk and get the money somewhere else. We are going to pay the going rate because Drew has the leverage to get the going rate. He will either get it from us or somewhere else.

Drew isn't a player who must prove himself because he has spent 10 years doing that.

In 2015 he played 15 games, many of them hurt:

68.% completion %.
4870 yards
32 TD's
11 Int's

We aren't going to pay him Joe Flacco money?

10 games:
64.4% completion %
2791 yards
14 TD's
12 Int's

Your team stinks