Re-signing Drew Brees in the offseason was a priority for the New Orleans Saints. Brees wants to finish his career in New Orleans so he helped them by agreeing to a team-friendly deal. General Manager Mickey Loomis appreciated that:
“We needed to know what Drew was going to count on our (salary) cap this year, what resources are we using because then that gives us the ability to do some other things,” Loomis told the official website of the Saints. “To Drew’s credit, his No. 1 goal was to make sure we had an opportunity to improve our roster, keep our roster together and be as competitive as we can be. I’m certainly appreciative of how he’s handled that contract the last couple times because again the most important thing to him is we have a competitive team.”
Quarterbacks usually demand a high salary, whether they come over as free agents or if they plan to re-sign. Brees decided to take less money in order to help the Saints improve the roster around him.
The one-time Super Bowl champion signed a two-year, $50 million deal that will give him a $23 million signing bonus. He has a $2 million base salary in 2020.
As a result, the Saints were able to sign free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, bring back safety Malcolm Jenkins and re-sign guard Andrus Peat. At 41 years old, Brees knows that his window to win another Super Bowl will not be open for long.
