It's insane that Brees has a chance to hit the market. IF he does, the dude is going to have truckloads of money backed up for him by Denver alone, who are beyond desperate for a QB. But yes, I do think Minnesota is the hottest spot for any FA quarterback, because their receivers are excellent and their defense keeps games locked down.
IF I am Brees, I go to Minnesota. And if he somehow does hit FA, he will be able to pick his spot and rightly so. The Vikes with that dude at QB would rival the Patriots for the next few years or until Drew hangs them up.
Cousins is interesting too. He's going to go after fit and a winning team over cash IMO. Denver doesn't have nearly as good a situation as Minnesota (IMO they have a coaching change looming in the very near future). But there is talent there, and adding a QB like Kirk might turn the tide for them.
This is where Arizona's head coaching search takes an interesting turn, btw. They still have key offensive pieces to attract a FA QB. Who will they hire? Some hirings might immediately eliminate them from consideration for the top two QBs.
I think Brees has been pretty clear he wants to stay in Nawlins. They haven’t done much developing an heir apparent so I can’t see them risking losing him. That team is ready to compete for a SB too so if he was to leave, they would be a hot spot as well.
I could see it already, Brees leaves and the Saints trade for Eli Manning who takes them to their first SB, making daddy proud....
Looks like the Saints have got their cap in a better place. Partial article below. I was thinking they still had cap problems and they had some problems with money and Brees before. I would think he stays but, if not the Vikings and Jags could be a good match. The Broncos imploded last year. I'm not sure where they are at. Elway screwed up by not getting a QB two years ago. If Brees stays Cousins is the next choice for all these teams.
https://www.canalstreetchronicles.c...ary-cap-free-agency-drew-brees-malcolm-butler
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The great crew at OverTheCap.com have so-far operated with a more conservative projection of $178-million. Per their tracking of player transactions and in-house calculations, they describe a nice situation for the 2018 Saints:
- Effective Cap Space: $33,480,417 (ranked 16th out of 32)
- Dead Money: $6,965,970 (ranked 5th out of 32)
- Players Under Contract: 49 (ranked 8th out of 32)
Tweak it a bit and that looks even better. A crucial piece of team-building is the number of players rostered for the following year. The fewer you have ahead of time, the more you’re relying on your draft picks and undrafted signees to fill holes on the team. You’ll also be overpaying guys just to hit the 90-man offseason roster limit.
That isn’t where the Saints are sitting. They’re in the top third of the league in players contracted thanks to hitting on almost all of their recent draft picks and free agent signings, as well as some nicely-valued contract extensions. The average team has 44 players contracted for next year, and the Saints are a little ahead at 49.
Sure, the status of quarterback
Drew Brees is concerning. At this moment he is on the team for next year with a $6-million salary cap hit. But a trigger in his contract (as it is written) means he will be a free agent in March, accelerating his $6-million 2019 and 2020 cap hits into the 2018 fiscal year.
So that means the Saints would have 48 players under contract, not 49, and $21,480,417 in available cap space, not $33,480,417. That’s still good for the 6th-most cap space and tied for the 8th-most active contracts. Not great, but still good in context of the rest of the league. I anticipate the Saints will re-sign Brees and not find a way to not wreck their cap situation.
That Brees example just serves to illustrate how fluid this all is. The numbers will change dramatically between now and next March as the cap is raised and locked-in, and as the Saints trim the roster of cap casualties. The unfortunate
Nick Fairley ($6-million freed up if released) and
Coby Fleener ($4.8-million) each come to mind as possible early cuts, but hopefully they see upswings in health.
Anyway, the Saints have managed the salary cap very well in recent years. Look at the success of recent signings like defensive end
Alex Okafor, linebacker
Craig Robertson, right guard
Larry Warford, and wide receiver
Ted Ginn Jr. Even smaller names like linebacker
Manti Te’oand fullback
Zach Line have made positive impacts. With so many rookies playing so well on the cheap, look to the Saints to again be active in next year’s free agency period.
