On Friday night’s edition of NBC SportsTalk on VERSUS, Saints coach Sean Payton joined the show via satellite for an interview.
He said there’s no update as to the contract talks between the team and quarterback Drew Brees. Signed in 2006, Brees’ six-year deal expires after the current season. Though the parties were talking earlier this year, no progress has been made in recent weeks.
But Payton also said he sees no set of circumstances in which Brees won’t be the team’s starting quarterback in 2012. Given that Payton has signed a long-term extension of his own, there’s no reason to doubt him in any way.
The bigger question is the manner in which it will all play out. Regarded as a consummate team player, what will Brees do if/when the Saints apply the franchise tag? Brees would eventually have to choose between signing the one-year tender and staying away from the practice field for all or part of the offseason program, training camp, and preseason. Like other franchise players, he could ultimately show up on the eve of the regular-season opener and collect the full amount of his guaranteed one-year salary.
Brees surely won’t want to do that. So then where is his leverage? Unless he intends to demand a trade, he doesn’t have as much as he otherwise would, because when push comes to shove he’s going to want to be on the field with his teammates, throughout the offseason and training camp and preseason. Which means that without a long-term deal, he’ll have no choice but to play under the franchise tag.
So how will it all play out? I’ve got a theory (more like a hypothesis) that may not be as far-fetched as it seems. I’ll hold that one for a later day, or maybe for later in this day. For now, the news is that Brees and the Saints are on course for a franchise-tag face off in 2012, unless the two sides can find a middle ground on Drew’s long-term value to the organization.