As much as I believe that Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis were running the New Orleans Saints in an "above the law" fashion, the team and the fans needed some good news. They got it last week when quarterback Drew Brees signed a new five-year contract. Drew Brees is a very rich man.
Brees has a little $3 million base salary for the 2012 season. For simply signing his name to this contract he will receive $37 million. The full signing bonus will be paid out within the next six months. So, Drew Brees will actually be paid $40 million to play football for the New Orleans Saints for the 2012 season. That money is fully guaranteed. Not bad at all. I believe that the basic numbers of the 5-year, $100 million contract had been agreed upon by Brees and the team for some time. It's really been the guaranteed amounts that has caused all the discussion. For now, $20 million beyond 2012 is guaranteed for injury only. Next year, $15 million of the injury guarantee becomes fully guaranteed. The extra $5 million remains guaranteed for injury only. A similar pattern is in play for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The device in the last two years of the contract forces the Saints to cut him, if at all, sufficiently early in the offseason to give him a chance to land elsewhere. I doubt that ever happens but who knows. I thought the same of Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. The NFL and its teams are a business first.
In all, Drew Brees will receive $40 million this year, $10 million in 2013, $11 million in 2014, $19 million in 2015 and $20 million in 2016. 2013 and 2014 will be tight in the Brees household. The new TV deals in 2015 will make the last two years a little easier with the Saints. The structure of the contract really makes it a three-year, $61 million contract with a team option for years four and five.
It's really the guaranteed or potentially guaranteed money in this contract that makes it unique. Other players have hit about the basic 5-year, $100 million numbers. Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and Mario Williams, for example, but their deals have smaller portions guaranteed in any way. Even if they don't hit the $100 million total the $20 million average is not unusual. Brees is in the conversation with Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as the best quarterbacks in the game today. His level of play is deserving of a contract touching these numbers. Brees also means so much to the city of New Orleans. He and his family warmly and completely embraced the city at a time of tremendous need. Hurricane Katrina had torn apart lives and the city. At the same time, Brees' football career was also torn apart by a terrible shoulder injury in San Diego. No team trusted him or his health. Both the city and the quarterback needed something and they found each other. The Saints needed a little positive news this offseason and they got it here with Drew Brees signing a 5-year contract. Now, maybe we can finally talk about football in New Orleans again.
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