Drew Brees and his representatives are set to meet with the Saints at the NFL Scouting Combine to make ground on a new deal, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. The combine gets underway on March 2.
Rapoport said the two sides will look “to try to hammer out what is potentially a short-term deal” for the soon-to-be free agent. Brees would have a $18MM cap hit toward the Saints if they were not to agree on a deal before the new league year on March 14. Rapoport expects the two sides to settle on a deal in the range of $20MM-$25MM annually.
Brees expressed his desire to return to the Saints following their loss to the Vikings in the NFC Divisional playoffs. A contract that would give Brees $25MM annually would match Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in terms of average annual salary for third among NFL players, placing him behind Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford ($27MM) and 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ($27.5MM).
Brees and Kirk Cousins serve as the two biggest names at quarterback who could potentially become free agents this offseason. Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum and A.J. McCarron are all set to hit the free agent market as well. While Brees appears to be the Saints’ top priority this offseason, safety Kenny Vaccaro, defensive tackle Nick Fairley and defensive end Alex Okafor are among other Saints who are due to become unrestricted free agents.
Well, Fairley is gone because of his heart condition, and unless Vaccaro takes a big pay cut, he’s gone, too. Okafor, I could see at 3 years, and Brees I can see at the figures given, between 20-25 million. I’m tending to lean closer to 21-22.
I also wouldn’t be upset if the Saints would look to old Brees favorite Jimmy Graham, 2 years?
Graham and draft Hurst.
194M/17yrs 1 Super Bowl.
Tom Brady 197M/18yrs 5 SB.
Big Ben 170M/14yrs 2 SB.
2 Years 15 M per season and they might be able to assemble some players to get another SB.
The Outliers for the old guys are Mannings…
Peyton Manning 248M/18yrs 2 SB.
Eli Manning 219M/14yrs 2 SB.
Imo, he’s worth every dollar. But, I hope he takes a pay cut to help build the team around him. His last contract he didn’t do it and they were stuck in mediocrity. If they stand pat they’re contenders, but a few extra good players will make a difference.