The New Orleans Saints are and have been Drew Brees’ team for a decade. Drew Brees is the franchise in every sense of the word and has meant so much to the New Orleans community as well, cementing his icon status in the state of Louisiana.
But as much as the city and as much as Saints’ fans love Drew Brees, the franchise may not be willing to show any long term love to their beloved quarterback.
The Saints and Brees have been eyeing a new contract to ensure the signal caller retires a Saint but it seems the two sides may have a different idea of what would define a “fair” contract for both sides.
According to sources, as well as Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, the Saints are unwilling to commit to a long-term deal with Brees.
One concern is the amount of guaranteed money that Brees would be commanding, especially at 37-years of age. But the biggest concern the Saints have is how they view Brees, whom they see in a clear decline.
The Saints have concerns regarding Brees’ arm strength, which they believe is in significant decline and they also have some concerns about the further limitation of Brees’ mobility as he gets closer to 40. The Saints simply believe that with Brees’ decline and the assumption that he will be far more likely to suffer an injury, it will be hard for them to commit both the money and the years that would likely come with any long term contract negotiations.
For now, things seem to be fine between the Saints and Brees but things can get interesting as camp continues and we inch towards the start of the regular season.
New Orleans is in a very tough spot. They need to be smart with any deal they make with Brees so it doesn’t financially restrict them in the future, but they also have to tread carefully as they don’t want to create a rift with the franchise’s greatest player and the the most popular sports figure in the community.