re: Drew Brees doesn’t want to linger talks

Realistically he likely has 2-3 playing years left (father time being undefeated and all).

You can spread the signing bonus over 5 years. So we could see a 5 year deal that voids after 3 years (last two years are dummy years).

I think anyone expecting Brees to take low below market value are just being wishful thinkers. Maybe he doesn't go for $25 mil, but I think he settles for no less than $22 mil per.

So altogether you might see something like a 5 year contract for $70 mil total, but it voids after year 3. You give him a big signing bonus to spread the hit (something like at least half so $35 mil).

You low ball year one's salary at $7 mil and add in $7 mil from the new signing bonus, and $6 mil from his current signing bonus for a total first year hit of $20 mil.

That leaves $28 in salary to spread over the next two years (each of which would also have $7 mil in new bonus and $6 mil in old bonus). Split evenly and his cap hit in 2019 and 2020 would be $27 mil.

And if he plays past year 3 you just extend him like we are this year.

There's also the option of doing as a 5 year deal that voids after 2 years. That would likely look something like this:

5 years for $45 mil total, with a signing bonus of $25 mil.

Low first year salary of $5 mil (with a new bonus of $5 mil and another $6 mil for the current bonus). That would give him a first year hit of $16 mil.

His second year hit would be $15 mil in salary plus $11 mil in bonuses ($5 mil plus $6 mil) for a $26 mil cap hit.

You also had the option of converting some of his salary to bonus if we need more space (and can tack on another year if that's the case).

Looking at it, the 5 year deal that voids after 2 seems like the option we should go with.

Either way we'll find a way to fit in Drew plus whatever FAs we want. Without needing to lock Drew into actual years it gives us a ton of flexibility to shift money until after Brees is gone so we can try to win in the next 2-3 years.

At the moment we have about $32 mil in space (which is counting his current $6 mil bonus), and if we extend him before FA we avoid another $12 mil in acceleration which is vital.

If we go with the 5 year/actual 2 year option we'll still have about $20 mil left in cap before any other adjustments. And with the way deals are structured we can make some serious noise with that much cap.

Be prepared. I think we'll make some crazy signings before it's over.