Drew Brees was never going to leave New Orleans. But the deal still had to be worked out.
Drew Brees said all along he intended to remain with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints said all along they intended to retain Brees. It was difficult to imagine Brees, who is all alone on the Saints’ list of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, ending a career spent as one of the most prolific passers in NFL history anywhere else.
But the deal still had to be worked out. And as of Monday, when the leaguewide legal tampering period for players eligible for free agency began, that hadn’t happened. Quarterback-needy teams from around the league were making inquiries, perhaps cursory but inquiries nonetheless, with Brees’s representatives. The situation wasn’t exactly tense or foreboding, but it was beginning to get just a little bit interesting.
Things moved quickly from there. And Tuesday, the deal that still needed to be done did indeed get done, as Brees agreed to a two-year contract worth about $50 million to re-sign with the Saints. The deal includes about $27 million in guaranteed money, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
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So all, as it turns out, is as it should be. Brees belongs in New Orleans for whatever remains of his NFL career. The Saints have a team capable of returning to the Super Bowl. They were in position to get there last season but suffered an improbable-as-it-gets last-second defeat at Minnesota in the NFC divisional round. If they manage to reach another Super Bowl in the next year or two, it should be with Brees at quarterback.
He wasn’t the old Drew Brees last season. He wasn’t asked to be. But he wasn’t an old Drew Brees, either. He remained productive within a toned-down New Orleans offense that featured less passing by Brees and more running by Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.
Brees threw for “only” 4,334 yards, a relatively modest total for a quarterback who has churned out 5,000-yard seasons with regularity during his 12 seasons alongside Coach Sean Payton with the Saints. But he completed 72 percent of his passes and threw for 23 touchdowns. The Saints were a better, more balanced team. If not for the crazy ending of their playoff loss, they would have been one step away from another Super Bowl.
Brees is 39. His chances to get to another Super Bowl are dwindling. But he remains a very good quarterback. And, now, he remains in the city where he should be, presumably to finish his brilliant NFL career.
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