The entire NFL will be dealing with the down cap, JP. The players know this, as well. You cannot compare the next round of contracts with their historical predecessors. Mark Dominik was talking about this a couple of weeks ago on NFL Radio. Player expectations are going to be quite a bit lower. Contracts will not look the same for the next few years, much as economics will appear to be substantially different in every industry for the next several years. What you came to expect in the past is no longer relevant, at least not for the near future.

And win or lose, I fully expect Brees to return unless something dramatic happens and he no longer loves the game or he suddenly can no longer perform at a high level. I can't see either of these being a factor yet.