re: Drew Brees extension per Ed Werder

True $6 mil is on the books regardless for 2018, so only an additional $12 hits if not extended.

And yeah that $6 mil per year stays if extended (anything new is added on top) because that $6 mil per is money already paid.

And yeah IF we draft a good rookie then we'll save a shite ton anyway, but easier said than done.

There's 3 scenarios:

We let Brees go after 2017 and take the $18 mil hit in 2018.

We extend Brees and add his new contract on top of the $6 mil per from 2018-2020. We can add one more dummy year again (since the max for bonus spreading is 5 and next year he'll have 4 years left) to spread the hit a tiny bit more.

And this is the worst case scenario. If Brees hits FA we'll be hit for $18 mil in 2018, and if we resign him after hitting FA his new contract will add on to that $18 mil.

So the only two real choices is extend him before he hits FA or let him walk. That means no bidding war in FA because if he hits that he's gone.