Wednesday was the third day of the waiver period. For many players, that resulted in significant base salaries becoming fully guaranteed.
In New Orleans, that happened with quarterback Drew Brees, who enters the fourth season of a five-year deal. Via Mike Tripplett of ESPN.com, the quarterback’s base salary of $18.75 million has become fully guaranteed. And his cap number will skyrocket from $18.4 million in 2014 to $26.4 million in 2015.
With only one year remaining on his contract (and a cap number for 2016 of $27.4 million), a restructuring makes no sense. The Saints will instead need to extend Brees’ contract if they hope to drive down the cap number for the coming season.
Either way, Brees has $38.5 million in cash due over the next two years. Which means that he’ll likely need to have at least $38.5 million fully guaranteed (and paid out over the next two years) as part of any extension.