Saints Should Not Fear A Max Extension for Brees

NFL front offices have a lot to worry about when it comes to their franchise quarterbacks.

They have to constantly evaluate performance to make sure they have the right guy under center. The fear of a devastating injury is never absent from their minds, and facing guys like J.J. Watt and Julius Peppers on a weekly basis does not help.

Even keeping a cell phone intact has started to become an issue.

Despite already having a full plate in front of them, there comes a time every few seasons that forces management to sweat more than ever: contract negotiations.

It is no secret that the NFL has become a quarterback driven league. As a result it is the quarterbacks who usually make the most money: sixteen of the twenty-five highest players in football are QBs.

Drew Brees‘ already big contract is likely to grow if he extends with the Saints after the 2016 season, mostly due to the annually rising salary cap.

Dec 21, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback

Drew Brees

(9) runs off the field after the game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Falcons won 30-14. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The money he will likely make will take up a massive amount of cap space, leaving less for the rest of the team to be contstructed.

Of course, the option for the Saints would be to simply let Brees’ contract expire at the end of next season, when Brees would be just a couple of weeks shy of his 38th birthday.

If they did that, then the risk becomes that he could sign elsewhere, and finish his career in a uniform other than a Black and Gold one in a scenario reminiscent of Brett Favre a few years ago with Minnesota.

Yet, the chance of such a scenario happening is one that the Saints can avoid by simply taking the initiative and offering Brees a max extension now, before it gets to that point.

As it is, the way Super Bowl teams have been built over the past few seasons show that such a big contract like that may not be as bad as some think.

Take Russell Wilson.

26 years old and fresh off of three successful seasons, two Super Bowl appearances and one championship to start his career, he agreed to a four year deal with the Seattle Seahawks that makes him one of the highest paid players in the league.

There was a small pushback from Seattle during these negotiations though, which helped to once again raise a lurking question: are quarterbacks worth all of this money?

The easy answer for some, especially in Wilson’s case, is yes.

The man is 36-12 in his career and has appeared in two Super Bowls while playing at an elite level. Why shouldn’t he be rewarded with an elite level raise?

In 2013, Russell Wilson earned his first career Super Bowl victory. That year he made $526,417, less than half a percent of the salary cap (.43%).

When compared to the average cap percentage every other Super Bowl quarterback since 2009 has filled (7.83%), his number looks even smaller.

That deviation alone represents a $9.1 million boost for Seattle to help build around their quarterback.

Feb 1, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) warms up before Super Bowl XLIX against the New England Patriots at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

What was unique about Seattle was that not only was their starting quarterback grossly underpaid (thanks to being drafted in the third round), they also hit the nail on the head with a multitude of other young players.

Bobby Wagner, Bruce Irvin, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas and current Saint Brandon Browner were all not only critically impactful players on that championship team, they were also on ridiculously cheap contracts.

Together, those six players plus Wilson made a combined $13,038,728 million in 2013, a whopping 10.6% of Seattle’s total salary.

More from Big Easy Believer

Their Super Bowl opponent Denver Broncos paid quarterback Peyton Manning $25 million that year, 20.33% of their salary cap. See the discrepancy there?

The Broncos had roughly 80% of their total cap ($98.4 million) to build around their quarterback. The Seahawks had north of 99% ($122 million) to do the same, and 89.4% ($109 million) after accounting for those six defensive stalwarts.

While the Seahawks definitely had a lot more bang for their buck, the Broncos were still able to field a team good enough to reach the Super Bowl. Despite having significantly less money to build around their quarterback, they found a way to make it work.

How? Manning played well enough every game to justify that pay day.

Jan 11, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback

Peyton Manning

(18) passes in third quarter of the 2014 AFC Divisional playoff football game against the Indianapolis Colts at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

That is the key.

Peyton lives up to the value of his contract year in and year out. Though Denver dished out a fifth of their cap to Manning in 2013, they knew they were getting the production they signed up for, barring injury.

Whether a quarterback gets paid $1 million, $10 million, or $25 million, as long as they are living up to their deals most of the time, the front office can be happy with the gargantuan deal they agreed on.

Unfortunately for some teams across the NFL, their quarterbacks live up to this value some of the time, instead of most.

Take Joe Flacco for example.

He made $6.76 million in 2012 (5.6% of cap), and his Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl that year. His fantastic play throughout the postseason was a unexpected surprise, and a huge reason why they were able to go all the way.

So, the Ravens made him (at the time) the highest paid quarterback in the league in order to retain him. The Ravens only went 10-6 in the regular season, one in which Flacco did not play at a very high level.

His elite playoff run was enough to convince Baltimore to re-sign him because they now knew two things: they have a quarterback that can sometimes play at a world class level, and they have to pay him a ridiculous amount of money because if they do not, somebody else will.

The truly elite quarterbacks like Peyton, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have proven time and time again that they will at the very least match their contract value with their play.

Can the same truly be said for the likes of Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford and Joe Flacco? No, it cannot.

But the mere chance that it could happen is obviously worth it to the teams that dish out these huge deals.