A lower percentage of the cap is attributed to Brees than was the case five years ago. You can't look at an individual salary in a vacuum. And, as I mentioned several times before, that percentage of the total cap declines each year as the cap rises annually. There more you can push off to the future the better. And that future dead money attributed to Brees will all be "earned" money and not "unearned" money as in the case of players cut or traded.

Far too much importance is placed upon the cap by fans and media.

Also, the hope and what should be reality, when we do draft Brees' replacement, his rookie contract should only attribute $4-5 million to the cap to offset any leftover from Brees.

Also, the hope and what should be reality, when we do draft Brees' replacement, his rookie contract should only attribute $4-5 million to the cap to offset any leftover from Brees. One thing common with some of the last few SB winners, they have QB's on rookie contracts so they can spend elsewhere. We're seeing what happens in Seattle once Wilson got paid QB money and in 2021 we'll see what happens to KC once Mahomes gets paid. 2020 is his last year on rookie contract with base salary of $735,000 and cap hit of $5.2 mil.

In the case of the Chiefs this year. Mahomes ($735,000) and Tyreek Hill's ($820,000) combined base salaries was less than their backup QB Chad Henne ($3,350,000) and Punter Dustin Colquitt ($1,950,000)!!
,