NFL Notes: Cardinals, Packers, Saints

January 28, 2018

Cardinals

Cardinals S Tyrann Mathieu (via Twitter) says he was invited to play in the Pro Bowl this year, but turned down the invite because he made plans to celebrate his son’s birthday on Sunday.

Saints

Both the Saints and Drew Brees have made it clear in recent weeks that they’re going to hammer out details of a new contract this offseason. (NFLTR)
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that whatever agreement Brees signs with offseason won’t end up being a one-year deal.
Florio expects the Saints and Brees to agree to a contract that includes a large signing bonus that covers four or more years, which will allow the team to spread out his cap hit and minimize his 2018 cap hit.
One option, according to Florio, would include a $24 million signing bonus and just a $1 million salary for the 2018 season. Assuming this is a four-year agreement, Brees would carry a cap charge of $7 million next season and a total cap number of $25 million.
If there’s an issue to be worked out, Florio says it will be Brees’ compensation and cap hit for 2019.

Packers

New Packers GM Brian Gutekunst says he anticipates Ted Thompson, who is transitioning to senior advisor to football operations, to have a “big role” for the team.

“I think he’ll have a big role,” Gutekunst said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “With his experience and doing this for as long as he’s done it at a high level, I’m going to lean on him tremendously.”

Gutekunst has said that he would like to lean on Thompson and his experiance during the preocess of taking over as GM.

“I would hope that I could lean on him very much through this process,” Gutekunst said. “He obviously has a ton of experience, and he’s a very, very close friend. I expect him to be very involved, as much as he can be.”

Gutekunst made a point to say that Thompson will be a “pretty big deal” for them and he’s hoping to get Ted watching more tape of prospects, which has always been a strength of his.

“He’s one of the best evaluators that has ever done this,” Gutekunst said. “So he’s going to be part of our meetings, he’s going to be part of our evaluation, he’ll be a pretty big deal. Hopefully it will free him up to watch more tape. He is exceptional at that part of it.”