Saints Franchise QB Drew Brees

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reports that the New Orleans Saints have placed their franchise tag on QB Drew Brees.

The sides have been in negotiations for over a year now but despite offering Brees a deal that reportedly paid him an average of $18 million per season, the two sides are still far enough apart that a deal couldn’t have been reached before the March 5th deadline for franchise tags.

This will guarantee Brees a 2012 salary of $14.4 million and will allow New Orleans to finally start addressing the contracts for Marques Colston and Carl Nicks who have been lost in the shuffle throughout the process.

Pro Football Talk reports that they placed the “exclusive franchise tag” on Brees which means that he’s unable to talk to other prospective teams.

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The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that a league source has informed them that the Saints offered QB Drew Brees a contract that would pay him close to $18 million per year last season.

The report mentions that the Saints have since increased their offer but Brees’ camp could using Peyton Manning‘s five-year, $90 million contract that he signed with the Colts as a comparative deal. Manning would have made $23 million per season for the first three years of the contract.