The Saints open the 2016 season at home Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.
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The deal also includes a no-trade clause and forbids the Saints from using their franchise tag on the quarterback, according to ESPN. That’s $12.75 million down from the $30 million Brees was scheduled to make this year on his last deal with the Black and Gold.
“The cap situation to me was the most important element to this”, he said. Both the dead money from his previous contract and the salary from his new contract count against the cap.
Brees was heading into the final year of his five-year, $100 million contract, and stated that he would stop negotiations once the regular season started this weekend.
But Grayson’s time in New Orleans might not be over. The extension will be announced as a five-year deal but contains an automatic void to two years.
So this is the best-case scenario for the Saints, who can now allow their future Hall of Fame quarterback to work without distractions for the entirety of his age-37 season.
Evans has played his entire National Football League career (2006-2015) for the Saints, making four first team all-pro selections, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2009, and making the Pro Bowl six times.
But Brees said at a news conference Wednesday that the length of the extension does not mean he’s close to hanging up his cleats.
As I look at the Saints’ 53-man roster today, I can only wonder what it might look like if this team had had an extra $13 million to play with during free agency. It’s equally great that the Saints now have additional breathing room under the salary cap but how does any of that affect the here and now? The Saints have a dismal team, but one thing that’s gone consistently right for the franchise is the performance of Brees over the past ten seasons.
Brees has spent the last 10 years of his 15 year career with the Saints, where he has never failed to eclipse 4,000 passing yards and has thrown a minimum of 30 touchdowns in 8 of those 10 seasons.
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They got exactly what they wanted by limiting his extension to just one year for a fully guaranteed .25 million, according to league sources. Another team might have backed up the money truck for Brees next spring. To be more precise, he has been averaging over 5,000 yards and 39 touchdowns per season since 2011, and his career totals of 60,903 yards and 428 touchdown passes ranks him first among all active players.
