Could Drew Brees become a villian in the eyes of the people if he refuses a new deal?
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // July 10, 2012 // NFL // 1 Comment
This piece could meaningless by the time that it gets to you as a deal between the New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees could be announced any second now.
The crazier thing is that it may not.
And if it does not get done between now and the16th which is less than one week away, how will the tides turn within a fan base that has suffered far-to-much this season?
Amongst many of us that have written about this story for far-to-long now, the target has been placed squarely on the back of the team and more specifically shamed-GM Mickey Loomis.
That pendulum swung a bit when the Saints ponied up what amounts to the largest deal in the history of the NFL.
You can’t really fight after the biggest ever. There is no further ground to stand on except for that of guaranteed money and/or how and when the money will be doled out.
The Saints have huge cap issues and their sales pitch may be ‘we will pay you more money that anyone has ever seen…just at the end of this five-year deal.’
The dynamics of that can get pretty ugly especially when Brees knows that he’s going to cash a check for over $16-million dollars for a year’s work if he plays under the franchise tag this season.
He also knows that if the Saints tag for a third and final year next season that he’ll make close to $40 million dollars total for only two-years work.
There lies the problem. Brees wants the big-time money now and every year thereafter and the Saints presumably want to get a little relief over the next two-three years by reducing his cap number a little bit and paying him off at the tail-end.
No matter how you slice it, the Saints have agreed to over the next five years pay him more than anyone else has ever been paid and he is still trying to readjust the terms and/or get exactly $20 million dollars a year or more from the team.
If you are a Saints fan how does that make you feel?
After everything that your team has been through this off-season if Brees can’t accept a long-term deal that will pay him more money than anyone has ever seen, how will you view him?
Will he still be the conquering hero that got you a ring?
Or will he transform in the greedy S.O.B. that held the team hostage when they sunk to their lowest point?
I’ve only spent at most a total of six weeks here and there in New Orleans but one thing that I have gathered is that there is a lot of pride in that city.
The word loyalty also counts for something and it would not surprise me in the slightest if Brees would suffer some sort of fallout with the fans that only an amazing season could overcome.
I could be wrong but like I said, pride and loyalty are Hallmark words there and Brees has built his brand on being the guy that gave so much to the city and now he might be forcing the people to see just how much he wants to take when the team needs him the most.
