New Orleans Saints News & Rumors

Saints quarterback Drew Brees is giving serious thought to retirement, PFT’s Mike Florio hears. The Saints, obviously, want the future Hall of Famer to return, but a source tells PFT that the club wants him back for what would essentially amount to a bridge year. In 2021, they envision Taysom Hill taking over as the team’s starter. 

If Brees returns for a 15th season, he’d be the starter, but he’d also yield some spotlight and snaps to Hill. That plan may or may not suit Brees, who could walk away from the game with his fortune and still earn plenty more off the field, perhaps as a TV analyst.

Meanwhile, the Saints have some offseason work to do when it comes to Hill and Teddy Bridgewater. Hill will be a restricted free agent in March and another club could conceivably match their offer sheet, even at the first-round level. Bridgewater, who is beloved in New Orleans and all around the NFL, could be lured away by an opportunity to start with a contract befitting of a QB1.

As for Brees, he’s indicated that he’ll take a month to or so to weigh his options. If he does return, Brees says he’ll only suit up for the Saints.

Brees, 41, completed a league-high 74.3% of his passes in 2019, marking his third straight year at the top of the category. In his injury-shortened eleven-game campaign, he tallied 2,979 yards with 27 touchdowns against just four interceptions. The wild card round against the Vikings didn’t go as planned, but Brees did cap off the regular season in remarkable fashion by completing 29 of 30 passes against the Colts and setting the NFL’s new record for touchdown throws.

If Drew Brees decides to play in 2020, it will only be for the Saints. However, it’s still unclear whether he will be returning for his age-41 season.

The New Orleans legend will wait about a month before making that decision, as Amie Just of NOLA.com writes.

“I’m really waiting until football is totally done,” Brees said on Saturday. “Obviously being [at the Pro Bowl], I’m just very much focused on my family and this opportunity to be be around the guys, playing the game. Then, I’ll kind of lay low for a little bit, get away and then assess. I kind of have a process in mind. And I’ll give it a month or so.”

The Saints will obviously give their future Hall-of-Famer all the time he wants, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, the process could be somewhat complicated by the presence of Taysom Hill, a restricted free agent. The Saints love what Hill brings to the field and do not want another club poaching him by giving him an offer that New Orleans cannot match because of its financial commitment to Brees. Of course, that assumes that another team views the 29-year-old Hill as a starting-caliber QB, which is not a given; Hill has thrown just 13 passes in his professional career.

If Brees does decide to hang up the cleats, the Saints could look to Hill as a replacement, or they may choose to re-sign Teddy Bridgewater, who played well in Brees’ injury-related absence in 2019. There are also an unusually high number of potentially intriguing free agent and trade options this year, so the sooner Brees makes up his mind, the happier New Orleans will be.