Brees And The Saints are Stuck In The Mud

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On February 7, 2010, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was sitting on top of the world. Brees had just helped the Saints win their first Super Bowl Championship in franchise history and he would also be selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player. For nine seasons with the Saints, Brees is looked at as a god in the Bayou as he has re-written the franchise’s record book for passing and he’ll one day put on a different shade of gold when he is enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Saints had a good run from 2009-2011 as they went 37-11 over that stretch with three trips to the postseason. But in a region that is known for its wonderful jazz music in the French Quarter, things have hit a sour note for the Saints. The Bountygate Scandal put the Saints behind the eight-ball for the 2012 National Football League season while the almighty dollar appears to be finishing off the job for the New Orleans.

On July 13, 2012, Brees signed a new five-year, $100 million contract with the Saints. The contract included $60 million in guaranteed money which made it the largest contract at the time in NFL history. Brees received a $37 million signing bonus and his salary cap numbers have been hurting the Saints. For the upcoming NFL season, Brees has a cap number of $26.04 million which will count towards nearly 14 percent of the Saints overall cap number. And because of this Brees won’t have the best team around him in 2015.

In a cap move the Saints surprisingly traded tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks earlier this month. Graham is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and he is one of the premier receiving tight ends in the National Football League. Graham has been the go-to-guy for Brees in the Saints passing game and he’ll be tough to replace as he (Graham) recently had problems with the front office in New Orleans.

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Jimmy Graham

Last year Graham was set to become a free agent when the Saints hit him with the dreaded franchise tag. By trade Graham is listed as a tight end, but he has spent the majority of his offensive snaps lined up as a wide receiver. Graham wanted to be compensated as a wide receiver as he would be paid more money under the franchise tag because of it. Graham’s case would go to arbitration where he was deemed as a tight end which didn’t sit well with him. The Saints could not afford to have a good portion of their payroll committed to both Brees and Graham and thus the tight end is now a member of the Seahawks.

Brees has been paid by the Saints, but what good is it to be paid without a team around you that can win? Unfortunately for players in the National Football League, due to the tight salary cap. when contract time rolls around they must ask themselves: do I want to win or do I want to get paid? And for Brees he wanted to get paid.

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Drew Brees

However for quarterbacks, they are typically the most marketable player on a football team as they are the leaders and the ones that tend to get the pretty girls. And with that it tends to be easier for them to make money outside of football. Brees has product endorsement deals in the New Orleans Area along with national deals to be a spokesperson for such products as Wrangler Jeans. So if Brees had taken less money to play for the Saints, he still would be heading to the bank from his endorsements which would also have allowed the Saints to keep players like Grahaam around him in New Orleans. But that is not the case.

Brees could have taken a page out of the book of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has been notorious for taking less salary from the Patriots in order for the team to have flexibility in signing players. Like Brees, Brady cashes in off of the field with endorsements and the Patriots salary flexibility has allowed them to win four Super Bowl Titles with Brady under center.

Theoretically there isn’t a wrong answer for players in the NFL as far as them taking less money or maxing out on their athletic ability being that they only have a small window in the grand scheme of their respective lives to get top dollar for the physical skills that they possess. But quarterbacks in the NFL are solely remembered by how many championships that they are able to win. Brees has one Super Bowl Title on his resume and by the look of things currently with the Saints roster, he won’t have any title memories to add to it, but at the end of the day he’s paid.

Sources: Spotrac.com, Overthecap.com, Pro-football-reference.com

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By | 2015-03-22T10:58:02+00:00 March 22nd, 2015|Categories: National Football League|Tags: , , |0 Comments

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