Drew Brees - Pro Football Rumors

Extra Points: Saints, Carroll, Kaep, Texans

February 25th, 2016 at 9:08pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Saints head coach Sean Payton told NFL Network on Thursday that a contract extension for quarterback Drew Brees “will get done very easily,” per Christopher Dabe of NOLA.com. General manager Mickey Loomis said earlier this month that he wants to lock up Brees, whose deal expires after next season. Loomis also stated at the time that he and Tom Condon, Brees’ agent, hadn’t yet spoken about an extension. That changed at the combine, where Loomis and Condon met, according to Payton.

In a different interview, Payton told Pro Football Talk that offensive guard and the defensive front seven will be the Saints’ main concerns in free agency and the draft (Twitter link via Dabe). Earlier this month, the Saints cut guard Jahri Evans and two front seven defenders, linebackers David Hawthorne and Ramon Humber.

Other news from around the NFL:

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told the Los Angeles Times’ Gary Klein that he has no interest in returning to USC to become its athletic director (Twitter link). Carroll, of course, led USC to an 83-19 mark as its football coach from 2001-09.
Colin Kaepernick‘s contract – a middle-of-the-road deal for a quarterback – shouldn’t scare off possible suitors, writes Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap. If the 49ers do trade Kaepernick, which looks like a distinct possibility, Fitzgerald lists six teams as potential fits. He expects the Niners to seek a second-round pick in return.
The Texans have met with guard Brandon Brooks‘ representatives at the combine, tweets Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. Brooks, a pending free agent, has started in each of his last 44 appearances.
The Falcons have not yet made any decisions regarding Devin Hester‘s status with the team, according to GM Thomas Dimitroff, who says that won’t happen until after Hester is fully recovered from his toe surgery (Twitter link via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com).
The Saints ($42K), Broncos ($267K) and Rams ($1.245MM) opted against carrying over their full allotment of space from 2015, tweets Pro Football Talk. The Broncos’ motivation was to prevent other playoff teams from signing their practice squad players during the postseason, according to PFT’s Mike Florio. Each team has to make its call on carryover space at the end of the regular season. The Saints and Rams didn’t make the playoffs, so it’s currently unclear why they left their respective amounts behind. The list of all 32 clubs’ carryover totals can be found here.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Saints Want To Extend Drew Brees’ Contract

February 16th, 2016 at 6:54pm CST by Zachary Links

Saints GM Mickey Loomis says that he wants to extend Drew Brees‘ contract, as Alex Marvez of FOX Sports tweets. Loomis, however, has yet to speak with agent Tom Condon about Brees this offseason.

In January, when asked if he would be amenable if the Saints came to him to talk about a contract extension for this year, Brees said, “absolutely.” Brees is due a $30MM cap hold as he enters the final year of the five-year, $100MM deal he inked in 2012.

After the third day after the Super Bowl came and went on February 10th, Brees got $10.85MM of his $19.75MM base salary for 2016 fully guaranteed. No one expected that the Saints would cut Brees prior to that date in order to avoid the obligation, but the guarantee gives Brees a little extra leverage in contract negotiations with the Saints.

In 2015, Brees played in 15 games, throwing for 4,870 yards and 32 touchdowns with a 68.3% completion rate. Brees only threw 11 interceptions, his lowest total since 2009. In 15 NFL seasons, Brees has earned nine Pro Bowl selections and one first-team All-Pro nod.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brees, Haden, Others Get Salary Guarantees

February 11th, 2016 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

Several NFL players are on contracts containing language stating that they’ll get a full or partial salary guarantee for the 2016 season if they remained on their respective teams beyond the third day after this year’s Super Bowl. That third day came and went on Wednesday, and while not every player with a guarantee deadline locked in that money – Nate Allen was cut by the Raiders, while Dannell Ellerbe reworked his deal with New Orleans – most of those guys had their contracts remain untouched.

Per Joel Corry of CBSSports.com, here are the players who were assured of full or partial salary guarantees for 2016 after remaining under contract on Wednesday:

Drew Brees, QB (Saints): $10.85MM of $19.75MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. This gives Brees a little extra leverage in contract negotiations with the Saints, but doesn’t drastically change his outlook — he’ll be back in New Orleans next season, likely with an extension in hand.
Joe Haden, CB (Browns): $10.1MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. Concussion issues wiped out most of the 2015 season for Haden, but he was in no real danger of being cut before this amount – previously guaranteed for injury only – became fully guaranteed.
Jairus Byrd, S (Saints): $7.4MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. So far, Byrd hasn’t exactly lived up to the massive deal he signed with New Orleans two years ago, but there’s still so much dead money left on it that it makes sense for the team to keep him around.
Curtis Lofton, LB (Raiders): $3.5MM of $5.35MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. Lofton’s first year in Oakland certainly wasn’t his best, and the Raiders could’ve cleared his entire salary from their books if they’d cut him along with Allen, but the team has so much excess cap room that it can afford to bring back the veteran linebacker and hope for a better season.

While there are a few more contract guarantees to keep an eye on in February, including several for Seahawks players, most guarantee dates arrive in March, at – or shortly after – the start of the new league year. So we shouldn’t expect to see many teams cutting players to narrowly beat those guarantee deadlines for at least a few more weeks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Saints Restructure Dannell Ellerbe’s Contract

February 11th, 2016 at 8:36am CST by Luke Adams

8:36am: According to Field Yates of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the Saints have made the following adjustments to Ellerbe’s contract for 2016:

Reduced base salary from $4.1MM to $1.7MM (fully guaranteed, per Aaron Wilson)
Reduced roster bonus from $1MM to $750K (guaranteed for skill and injury, per Wilson)
Reduced workout bonus from $100K to $50K
Added $700K in playing-time incentives

Taking into account Ellerbe’s $700K in prorated bonus money, it looks like New Orleans trimmed the linebacker’s cap hit for 2016 from $5.9MM to $3.2MM, as Wilson tweets. That number would increase if Ellerbe earns some of his incentives, but for now, it looks like those won’t count against the cap.

Ellerbe’s 2017 year will now feature the same contract terms as 2016, but that year could be voided if he plays 80% of the Saints’ defensive snaps this year, says Yates.

11:32am: The Saints won’t release linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, but have restructured his contract to reduce his 2016 cap hit, reports Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. The details of Ellerbe’s reworked deal aren’t yet known, but the veteran linebacker almost certainly agreed to a pay cut as part of the move.

Ellerbe, who was acquired by New Orleans last March in the trade that sent Kenny Stills to the Dolphins, was limited to six games in his first season as a Saint due to nagging toe and hip injuries. The team apparently saw enough in those games to want him back for 2016, however, so Ellerbe didn’t meet the same fate as fellow linebackers David Hawthorne and Ramon Humber, who became cap casualties earlier this week.

Ellerbe had been set to count for $5.9MM against the cap in 2016, including a $4.1MM base salary. As Joel Corry of CBSSports.com details, that salary was initially guaranteed for injury only, but would have become fully guaranteed today if the Saints had kept the 30-year-old on their roster without adjusting his contract.

Here are a few more Saints-related notes for Wednesday:

Referring to the last time the Saints and Drew Brees negotiated a contract as a point of reference, Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune says the quarterback will be a tough adversary this offseason, if and when the club enters contract talks with him.
In a separate Times-Picayune piece, Woodbery explores what a new (and potentially final) contract for Brees might look like, writing that it’s “hard to imagine Brees’ camp seeking anything lower than $20MM a year.” The fact that the veteran QB currently counts for $30MM against the 2016 cap gives him leverage, since a 2017 franchise tag would be unpalatable for the Saints.
In a piece focusing on the three NFL teams with the worst salary cap situations, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com discusses the Saints, referring to Brees’ $30MM cap charge as “the elephant in the room.” Corry suggests New Orleans ought to restructure Cameron Jordan‘s contract, and adds that it may be time for the club to part ways with longtime Saints Marques Colston and Zach Strief.

NFC South Notes: Brees, Tolbert, Scobee, Bucs

February 4th, 2016 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Saints quarterback Drew Brees has just one year left on his contract, and is set to count for $30MM on New Orleans’ 2016 cap, meaning it’s essentially inevitable that the two sides will discuss an extension at some point this winter. So far though, negotiations between the quarterback and the team haven’t gotten underway, Brees said today during an appearance on ESPN (link via Christopher Dabe of NOLA.com).

“If conversations are to be had, they haven’t happened yet,” Brees said. “But when they do that will be between us, and then we’ll kind of announce that, and everybody will find out at the same time.”

Brees, who said on The Dan Patrick Show today that he expects to remain in New Orleans for the rest of his career, will have $10.85MM of his base salary for 2016 become fully guaranteed next week.

Here’s more from out of the NFC South:

Asked this week about his pending free agency, fullback Mike Tolbert said he hopes this Sunday’s game isn’t his last with the Panthers, adding that he “absolutely” wants to re-sign with the team, per Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. “These guys are my brothers,” Tolbert said. “I don’t want to leave any more than the next guy. But I have to do what’s best for my family and for me. If moving is part of it, then that’s a part of it. But I don’t want to.”
Veteran kicker Josh Scobee had a tryout with the Saints on Wednesday, but didn’t sign a contract, a source tells Pro Football Talk (Twitter link). The longtime Jaguars kicker was acquired in a trade by the Steelers in September, but struggled during his brief stint in Pittsburgh, missing four field goals and an extra point in four games. He was cut in October.
The Buccaneers have plenty of cap room at their disposal this offseason, but Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap is skeptical that they’ll use a big chunk of it, as he explains in his preview of Tampa Bay’s offseason.

NFC Links: Lions, Brees, Washington

January 23rd, 2016 at 11:50am CST by Ben Levine

Haloti Ngata was banged up for much of his first season in Detroit. Still, the veteran enjoyed his time with the Lions, and the impending free agent is very interested in returning.

“I’d love to stay,” he told Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com. “I love what coach (Jim) Caldwell has done here. I love playing under him and coach Kris (Kocurek). I feel like I got in a groove at the end of the season and hopefully I can play a full season understanding the system.”

Let’s look at some more notes from around the NFL…

The Lions are expected to hire David Walker as their running backs coach, reports Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez (via Twitter). Walker previously spent time on the Colts coaching staff, where he worked under Lions head coach Jim Caldwell.
Drew Brees doesn’t necessarily need to take a payout to save the Saints some money, writes ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett. The veteran quarterback could sign a multi-year extension, and the organization could then distribute the cap hit however they’d like. Ultimately, the writer believes the team should continue to pay Brees $20MM a season. While it isn’t necessarily a paycut, it’s well below what the veteran could make on the open market.
Safety Dashon Goldson could be among the surprise cap casualties for Washington this offseason, according to Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Meanwhile, Tarik El-Bashir points to lineman Kory Lichtensteiger and receivers Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson.

Saints GM Talks Brees, Payton, Roster Depth

January 14th, 2016 at 8:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis spoke today to reporters, including Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, about a number of issues related to the team, including the status of the head coach and quarterback. Let’s dive right in and round up several of the more notable quotes from the GM, via Woodbery….

On Drew Brees and how his $30MM cap number will affect the Saints:

“I know this: Drew’s going to be our quarterback. We’ll figure out how we’re going to handle the contract, whether it stays the same and just remains right in place, or whether we do something different. That’s all part of what we’ve got to figure out in the coming weeks.

On the team’s more general cap situation:

“I keep reading how we’re in dire straits with the cap and this, that and the other. It’s not a great cap situations, but it’s not as dire as sometimes I think it’s painted out to be. We know where we’re at, we know what we have to do.”

On the possibility that Sean Payton was going to leave the team this offseason:

“Here’s what I can tell you: I never had a discussion with another team. No one called me and I never called anyone else.

“[Payton’s] first statement when he walked in the room [for the end-of-season meeting] was, ‘Hey, I want to be here. I want to be coach for the Saints.’ It never really went beyond that. Then it was just a matter of how are we going to approach this season, what are the things we need to do, and let’s get going.”

On free agent signings or contract extensions that go south, and the Saints’ depth issues:

“Are there mistakes? Yeah, absolutely there are. We always own them. We’re not shying away from a decision that I’ve made or that we’ve made that didn’t turn out. We also don’t trumpet the ones that do work out, either. That’s up to you guys.

“You know what makes it hard to build depth? Having two draft picks taken away from you [for Bountygate]. That makes it hard. I’d say that’s more impactful than making a mistake on a contract.”

On how long and hard he considered the big Junior Galette extension in 2014:

“Not hard enough. I should have thought harder about that. That’s my mistake.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NFC Rumors: Manning, Brees, Cowboys

January 4th, 2016 at 11:37am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants could be in store for major changes this winter and spring, but quarterback Eli Manning hopes that the offense remains the same, as Ebenezer Samuel of the Daily News writes.

“Yep, of course,” Manning said when asked whether he wants the offense to remain in tact for 2016. “I feel very comfortable in the offense. We scored a lot of points, we were competitive in most of the games and I thought we had a great game plan. I think with the guys we have and add a few guys, we can be a strong offense.”

Manning threw for a career-best 35 touchdowns this season, along with 4,436 yards, the second-highest total of his career. He didn’t commit to speaking to the front office about his feelings on the system, but he didn’t rule it out, either.

Here’s more from the NFC:

When asked if he would be amenable if the Saints came to him to talk about a contract extension for this year, Drew Brees said, “absolutely” (Twitter link via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com). Brees is due a $30MM cap hold as he enters the final year of the five-year, $100MM deal he inked in 2012.
Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee missed the team’s season finale and his absence appears to have cost him a possible $2MM escalator bonus for the 2016 season, as Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram writes. Lee had to play in 80% of snaps this season in order to bump his $3MM base salary to $5MM. Lee said after the game that the decision was his and that he felt trying to force things wouldn’t have helped his team.
Vikings tight end Rhett Ellison tore his patellar tendon and he is done for the 2015 season, according to coach Mike Zimmer (Twitter link via Ben Goessling of ESPN.com)
Bears linebacker Shea McClellin is slated to hit the open market but he says that he would “love” to be back if the team will have him, Patrick Finley of the Sun Times writes. McClellin added that he wants to stay at inside linebacker, wherever he goes. McClellin played in 12 games, starting 11, in his first year at inside linebacker.

Latest On Sean Payton, Saints

January 3rd, 2016 at 4:26pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Saints capped off their 2015 season with a victory over the Falcons, but now the real uncertainty begins. Rumors abound about the fate and future of head coach Sean Payton, including whether he’ll stay in New Orleans, be released, or perhaps be traded. One place he won’t end up is Miami, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (Twitter link), who reports that if Payton does leave the Saints, the Dolphins won’t be his destination.

There’s a lot to unpack here, and the report, while informative, does still leave quite a few unanswered questions. For one, it’s unclear whether the Dolphins are not interested in Payton, or whether Payton is not interested in heading to South Beach. Miami hired Chris Grier as its new general manager earlier today, and it’s possible that he and football czar Mike Tannenbaum have already ruled out a pursuit of Payton. But it’s just as reasonable to think that Payton doesn’t see the Dolphins as an enticing destination.

According to Larry Holder of NOLA.com (Twitter link), many Saints players expressed a desire for Payton to stay with the team following today’s game. When asked if he’d like to remain in New Orleans if Payton departs, quarterback Drew Brees dodged the question. “I want to be here, I want to play for the Saints, I don’t want to play for anybody else,” he told Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. “But there’s no reason to talk about it until we all know for certain.”

In a separate piece, Florio lists several potential landing spots for Payton, including the 49ers, Colts, and Giants. We should learrn more tomorrow, as Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis are expected to meet tomorrow to discuss the former’s future.

South Notes: Saints, Pagano, White, Texans

December 30th, 2015 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Despite plenty of speculation that 2015 could be Drew Brees‘ and/or Sean Payton‘s last year in New Orleans, the Saints quarterback says that he’s not going anywhere and neither is his head coach.

“I think we — a plan was put in place throughout last offseason as to how we were going to build a foundation by which to make a run at it in the future. That includes some new faces, that includes some young players that, I think, will all have a chance to come together and kind of build a team that can make a run at it in the future,” Brees told NFL Network. “Unfortunately, we had high expectations going into this year and we fell a bit short. But I’m confident with the character, the leadership, the talent we have.”

Brees’ and Payton’s futures in New Orleans are a little less certain than the former Super Bowl MVP suggests, but one player who isn’t going anywhere is left tackle Terron Armstead. Payton said this week that he wouldn’t trade Armstead for any other left tackle in the league, and the third-year lineman looks entrenched as one of the Saints’ building blocks, writes Mike Triplett of ESPN.com.

Let’s check in on some more items from across the NFL’s South divisions….

Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com (Twitter link) isn’t so sure that Chuck Pagano would want to remain with the Colts even if the team decides it wants to keep him, but Pagano told reporters today, including Mike Chappell of Fox59 (Twitter link), that he plans to fight to keep his job.
One Pro Bowl receiver – Steve Smith – announced today that he’s postponing retirement and will return in 2016, and another veteran wideout – Roddy White of the Falcons – has a similar plan. As D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes, White has been somewhat frustrated with his role this season in Atlanta, but says he plans on being a Falcon “forever” and wants to play a couple more years.
Several GM jobs could open up next week, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. Among the interesting upcoming decisions is one the Texans may have to make, with Florio forecasting that either GM Rick Smith or head coach Bill O’Brien will see an increase in power at this season’s conclusion.

Zach Links contributed to this post.