Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports the Saints are currently unsure if Drew Brees will be back as the team’s starting quarterback in 2018.
According to Rapoport, there have been no contract talks between the Saints and Brees up to this point and there are no plans to address his situation until after the season. Rapoport says that it’s clear Brees will be a looking for a lot of money in his next contract, particularly given that he will be in a position to test the free agent market if there’s no agreement in place and New Orleans is prevented from using their franchise tag on him.
The Saints reportedly have some concerns about the fact that Brees has missed some throws he use to make in the past and they believe there has been some “slight decline” in his play.
It worth mentioning that sources close to Brees have told Rapoport that he doesn’t want to play for another team.
Rapoport adds that assistant GM Jeff Ireland is also a free agent next year and could draw interest from other teams.
The Saints have been trying to find a quarterback prospect to develop, but they currently have no one on their roster outside of Brees that they could feel comfortable about moving forward.
It would be a big surprise to see Brees playing for another team, but it’s by no means impossible.
Brees, 38, is a former second-round pick of the Chargers back in 2001. After five years with the Chargers, Brees signed on with the Saints as a free agent in 2006.
He’s spent the past 11 seasons in New Orleans and is currently in the final year of his two-year, $44.25 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $13 million this season. Brees would be an unrestricted free agent in 2018.
In 2017, Brees has appeared in eight games and throw for 2,214 yards while completing 71.6 percent of his passes to go along with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 quarterback out of 36 qualifying players.
We have him featured in our Top 25 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.
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Brees should do a hometown discount. He’s already made millions upon millions of dollars. If he wants to see his team sign great players in the next coming seasons and make some runs for the Super Bowl, then it’s time to pull a Tom Brady and take a discount.
What’s the point of having final years of your career making $25+ million and blow your team’s budget on you? Completely wasted money and efforts.