New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis says QB Drew Brees is staying - NFL News
New Orleans Saints and quarterback Drew Brees suspended negotiations on a new contract as the player wanted to concentrate completely on the football aspect of the game.
Now with the season over Brees has become a free agent with his contract expiring but both the player and the Saints are pretty confident of continuing their relationship for many years to come.
Brees led the Saints to the Playoff rounds with his record breaking performances as the franchise ended the season 13-3 and qualified for the Wildcard round as the third seeded team.
They navigated past the Detroit Lions in a game that showcased the best of the National Football League (NFL) with an attacking display but the good days came to an end with the National Football Conference (NFC) South team losing a close fought encounter
with the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional round.
With the season ending both Brees and head coach Sean Payton have come out to tell the press that a new contract is a foregone conclusion and a deal will be announced soon.
On Tuesday Saints general manager Mickey Loomis certified those claims by telling the
Times-Picayune that Brees is not going anywhere.
"We want to get them signed. I understand his desire to table that until after the season, and hopefully we can get going right away and get that buttoned up. It's got to be the right deal for him and obviously for the club as well. Eventually, that will
happen."
The Saints will have to juggle the quarterbacks wage demands with the NFL’s salary cap as they have other important players who are entering free agency but Loomis is not too concerned and said that losing some is all part of the business.
"There's been lots of times where you've had core players that are unrestricted free agents, and occasionally you lose some that you don't want to lose. It's part of the business, and we just have to move on when that happens. We'll do everything we can
not to let that happen."
Brees had a sensational 2011 season as he finally became the first player to break Dan Marino’s single season passing yards record which had held for almost 30 years.
The Saints quarterback passed for a mammoth 5,476 yards and passed for 46 touchdowns the league’s highest by a quarterback.
Brees also has the best completion rate for the 2011 regular season completing 71.2% of his attempted passes.
All in all keeping Brees at the Big Easy will be top priority for the Saints front office this offseason and fans will be expecting to hear the wonderful news of him signing another extension with the franchise very soon.
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