Drew Brees announced he plans to play in 2020 and he plans to play for the Saints, which leaves the matter of putting a deal together that makes that happen.
It’s not a situation causing much stress for head coach Sean Payton. Payton appeared on WWL Radio on Wednesday that the two sides have always wrapped up contract negotiations “in an efficient manner” over the course of Brees’ time in New Orleans.
“I think that won’t be any different this time around,” Payton said, via NOLA.com.
While Payton doesn’t expect General Manager Mickey Loomis to sweat much on the Brees contract, he thinks Taysom Hill’s situation could be more difficult. Payton also gave a hint of what kind of tender the team might have in mind for the impending restricted free agent.
“If he was unsigned prior to the league year, I would anticipate us really paying close attention to that and looking at that first-round tender,” Payton said. “That’ll take some time, relative to his contract because it’s unique in what he’s doing now and what we feel like he can be and what he can do when Drew does retire. That will probably take a little more work than the contract that Mickey does with Drew.”
The Saints have until the start of the new league year on March 18 to tender Hill. That’s also the deadline to keep Brees from hitting the open market, but it doesn’t appear that’s going to be a source of serious concern for the team.