New Orleans Saints: How to solve the team’s quarterback conundrum
By Tony Twillie
Drew Brees
I am not a Drew Brees apologist. I have seen the same small signs of decline others have. He doesn’t do every single thing that he used to as well as he once did. Father Time is undefeated with regard to athletic careers.
That said…
As I look back at the list of Super Bowl winners from the last 30 years, I see names like Brady, Favre, Manning, Young, Elway, and – yes – Brees. In fact, of the last 30 Super Bowls, 24 of them have been won either by a Hall of Fame QB, a future Hall of Fame QB, or a projected HOFer.
One can toss out the Brad Johnson/Trent Dilfer/Joe Flacco anomalies – the majority of Super Bowls are won by teams with franchise QBs who are Hall of Fame type talents.
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Drew Brees not only is in that number of talented guys, but he’s also done it. He may be longer in the tooth, but Tom Brady won a SB last season at age 41, so there is precedent.
The question is what do you want and what are you willing to pay for it? Brees is the guy.
He’s still the most accurate passer in the league – today and tomorrow; all time. He still plays the game at a high level. While the other two quarterbacks from this year’s roster may have the future on their side, if the Saints are looking to win, Brees still gives you the best chance to win.
Can this team win with Teddy Bridgewater? Obviously. Can they win playoff games? Maybe, but do we want to chance that? Can this team win with Taysom Hill? Doing what he does now, yes. As QB? We have no idea.
So in my mind, Brees is the guy you still want back there. Now the cost factor comes in. Brees’ market value is $36.5 million/yr. We can’t afford to pay him that. Period. He played this past season for $22.7 million.
He’s going to have to replicate that or something near that for us to be able to win. If we get into the $30 million range, the Brees’ money makes it that much more difficult for us to pay the other guys we need to hang on to.
So here, we want Brees back, but at the right price. And this scenario needs to be handled quickly. If Brees is going to hold the Saints over the barrel for $30+ million, then we need to quickly move onto holding on to Bridgewater.