In case you didn't know, Brees' agent is the same one that represents Peyton Manning. If I'm not mistaken, Condon did not broker an extension twice for Manning, but did re-sign following the final season of the contract. In fact, that is how most deals work. Extensions are the exception. Yes, it would make fans like us all warm and fuzzy, but isn't necessary. SFIAH has it nailed. The cap is no longer an issue and I can't understand why people get so hung up on what players get paid. in addition, you cannot compare what an NFL QB gets paid to what people in regular jobs get paid. How many assistant managers are the in the world working at McDonalds? How many second grade math teachers are there in the world? How many car salespeople are there in the world? There are only thirty-two NFL starting QB's in the world. The NFL mandates that a vast majority of the cap has to be spent. They are not overpaid ... at all.

I believe if we don't have a deep, deep playoff run with Brees under C this season then he's not going to be here next season. Another 7-9 or even a 9-7 isn't going to cut it. Could be the FO is waiting to see how things go.

Please expound on your point as to why that would be. Brees isnt the reason why we didnt make the playoffs and had back to back 7-9 seasons. He's the reason why we're still a contender every year.

I agree with 44Champs here.

And a point I'm going to keep pounding until folks actually start listening:

AFTER THIS SEASON, DREW BREES IS A FREE AGENT!

He will no longer be under contract with the Saints. The Saints will have to bid with the proverbial other 31 teams in the NFL for his services.

There is no waiting to evaluate. After the season the only options the Saints have is to bid for Brees on the open market, or to franchise for 2017 for $43 million.

BTW you already have that evaluation. The Saints defenses in 2014 and 2015 were by some measures the worst in NFL history. 7 wins in that situation is frankly a miracle.

As someone else pointed out in this thread, it seems that quite a few folks are putting forward what they would like to see happen. But those wants/beliefs don't match the reality of the situation. There seems to be this pervasive fear that Brees is suddenly not going to be a HOF caliber QB in the elite category of today's NFL.

SFIAH

I get he's going to be a FA. A 38 1/2 yr. old FA at seasons end at that.

I just don't believe he's going to be able to play at the level he played at last season at 41 or 42 yrs. old. Also I feel he is a HOF qb but to lay out a huge contract at that age is putting all your money into assuming he will be playing at this level that long, to dicey in my opionion. I think the Saints have put themselves in a predicament with this.

I just want to make sure and point out that there are 32 teams with like 60 players each so that means that there are roughly 2,000 people in the entire world that can play in the NFL. Show me another job where only 2000 people in the entire world can do it. By the way, being one of those 2000 means you work very hard. So you decide which jobs deserve which money...I see, you're the smartest guy in the room and you will decide verse say the marketplace.

After all of that there is the one major fact that you are missing out on. Brees' age has NOTHING to do with his value. As long as he is producing as good as any 25 year old in the league why shouldn't he be paid like one? Hell, he is better than EVERY 25 year old in the league and has shown no indication that he will not still be out-performing them three or four years from now.

I know there are other responses that match this. I thought I had posted this before I left out. Posting anyway.



That coupled with the available pool of money is what defined the market.


I disagree about "earned". The value of any good or service is strictly defined by what people are willing to pay for it. It's the reason that the highest paid employee in virtually every state government is the high-profile football coach.

Brees does a job in a nearly $14 billion a year market that has less than 10,000 employees at a level that less than 5 people on this planet can do. Now is it fair that the NFL has that market size? Probably not. But has Brees earned his share of the market? Absolutely.

And you are asking the correct question. You have a guy that is far outproducing all the 25 year olds that are getting paid more than he is. The desperate teams in the market will pay to get the type of stability we've had at the QB position for the last decade.


So that's the value choice that each and every GM has to make. The system is set up with cost controls for the first 5 years of the contract after the draft and an open market afterwords. Players who are extremely productive before free agency build a potential value that can be tapped on the second contract. Teams always make the value proposition that the production will continue and match the value of the dollars. Sometimes it works (Brees, Jordan, Ingram) and sometimes it doesn't (Byrd, Gallette, up until now Spiller). And the Saints will have make more of these choices in the future (Cooks, Breaux). And sometimes I think the team just takes a flyer where the value of the contract doesn't match the previous production and there is a hope that the future production will in fact pan out. As of today I put Fleener in that category.

Deferring the money is the teams hedge against bad decisions in theory. All organizations are only on the hook for guaranteed money. So pushing a chunk of money in the future allows for further evaluation into the next contract as to make decision of whether to continue to pay or not.

It has to be balanced against players wanting their money up front. The NFL is the only pro league that has deferred non guaranteed contracts. When Lebron signed his 3 year $100 million contract this month, he's going to get that money whether or not he ever steps foot on the court for Cleveland ever again. It's all guaranteed. You can see the failures of that model with Kobe as an example. His last contract paid him I believe $24 million/year over a number of years, many of which he simply did not play. That contract in the NFL would be structured as up front guaranteed money, bonus payments contingent on being on the team, and unguaranteed salary, which simply isn't paid when the player is cut.

We'll see a sample of this with Byrd next year. He'll either restructure, or he will be cut because it'll cost the team more to keep him than to cut him.

But at the end of the day, this is the chess match of the NFL. Teams like the Patriots tend to cut most of their high profile people the year before they come into big money and continue their success with getting and developing young talent. Other clubs are a continual string of poor choices. The Saints have been hit and miss. But understand it's rare that someone becomes a Hall of Famer with their second or third club. Brees has been nothing but money since 2006. So my opinion is that the title of this thread is absolutely correct.

SFIAH

Because when you're getting old and getting beat up (we already know he can't throw as far as he used to, and there is no way in predicting how quickly his arm strength may continue to diminish) it's difficult to project forward like you can with a younger player. Did you see Peyton Manning last year? He went from breaking the single season passing yards and TD's record one year, to being maybe half that guy the next year, to being one of the worst QB's in the league last year. That big contract he signed seemed all fine and dandy two years ago. And then, suddenly, it wasn't anymore.

I'll wait for your sarcastic attempt to dance around that one.

In no way do I pretend to be the smartest guy in the room. You are basing your argument on market value within the league. That's the only reason players make the kind of money they make. What part of the word "important" did you not understand? You and others are using the lame "you're worth whatever someone wants to pay you" logic. I'm not begrudging Brees for the money he makes, despite the fact that I think his contract has been an albatross, and it would be nice if he could make a few concessions. Some players do that, and some don't.

But my point has nothing to do with market value. I said that nothing these players do is as important as some of the other jobs out there.

Just so YOU know, Millions of people through the years have fought and died, and made peanuts in the process, so that you and those who agree with you can sit here and have the lame opinion that football players are more important because there are fewer of them.

Chew on that for a minute, smart guy.

My whole point was that nobody "owes" Drew anything. If they want to pay him whatever he wants, that's them. If they don't, and he leaves, oh well. People keep talking like it would be disrespectful to him to ask him to take a little less than he could get elsewhere. It's up to Drew if he'd be willing to do that, but I'll stand by the Saints on this one, if they set a limit on what they are willing to pay. I don't know how it's going to play out in the end. I'm simply giving my opinion. Unlike some of you who have thought all off-season that you knew what was coming. That kind of crap is what deserves the "smartest guy in the room" comment.

There's no need to dance around it. A decline is a possibility. But you can only make the current decision with the available information. Brees was 15 games, 4800+ yards, 32 TDs for the #1 passing offense in football in 2015. He's 37 years old. That's the available information.

So you don't pull the trigger on Brees. What do you suggest the Saints do then? Take a look here at available free agent QBs for 2017:

2017 NFL Free Agents Tracker | Spotrac

You can forget about Cousins. If he has another year like 2015 Washington will tag him a second time as an exclusive franchise player then work to back up the money truck to Cousins house.

So what's the game plan if you let Brees go. There's no Rodgers or Luck waiting in the wings. The last guy that moved and playing at an elite level is Carson Palmer. But he was injured in Cincinnati.

I know that it feels like Guido and I are stating the obvious. But there simply do not seem to be any better options than Brees in the short term and the market is what it is.

Someone please show me what I'm missing. And I'm not missing the fact that Brees will be over 40 by the time he ends his next contract.

SFIAH