Short Drew Brees Extension Is Perfect Resolution for the New Orleans Saints

For years, teams have awarded long-tenured head coaches one-year extensions to avoid the risks associated with lame-duck seasons. It’s a good way to give a vote of confidence to a coach without breaking the bank with a long-term commitment. 

That strategy hasn’t typically been used with star players, even quarterbacks who sometimes feel like coaches, mainly because the franchise tag has given teams the ability to control certain contracts as they’ve expired. 

But the one-year extension that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees agreed to on Wednesday is, for all intents and purposes, lame-duck prevention. 

Per ESPN’s Ed Werder, the deal will pay Brees $44.25 million over the next two years, which essentially means he’ll make $24.25 million in 2017 in addition to the $20 million he was already slated to make in 2016. 

But the franchise tag was realistically off the table for Brees and the Saints, because it would have cost the team $43.2 million in 2017. If the two parties weren’t able to make this deal now or early in the 2017 offseason, Brees was going to become a free agent. 

A one-year, fully guaranteed $24.25 million extension is good money for the 37-year-old Brees. It’s fair, and it’ll keep him happy and focused throughout the 2016 season. Next year could be a different …

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