Saints quarterback Drew Brees signed a one-year extension last year after an offseason that featured a lot of attention to his contract situation, but said at the end of the 2016 season that he doesn’t intend to push for an extension that keeps him under contract beyond 2017 because he wants to “focus on what’s right in front of me.”
That approach works for the Saints as well. General Manager Mickey Loomis met with the media at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday and said that the team is fine with that approach because he’s also focused on things that will “make our team better right now for the 2017 season.”
“I think he’s already addressed that, hasn’t he? So I don’t have anything to offer you in that regard,” Loomis said, via ESPN.com. “You know, Drew’s at that point in his career where for him, I think it’s, ‘Hey, how do I feel?’ He had a great season, he’s planning on having another great season. And then we’ll go from there.”
The Saints have gone 7-9 the last three seasons and have resisted taking the team in a different direction at either coach or quarterback despite that spell out of the postseason. Keeping things on a year-to-year basis with Brees would give them the flexibility to dive into a deep rebuild if they continue to sputter along, although the hope in New Orleans is surely that having $25 million-plus in cap space helps put together a team that lifts them back into the postseason.