Shaq Thompson shares respect for Drew Brees, others marvel at Taysom Hill deal

Panthers players react to Drew Brees retiring, Taysom Hill extension for Saints.

Drew Brees had a pretty decent 15-year run with the Saints. He called it a game today, officially announcing his retirement from the NFL. Brees went 142-86 as the starter in New Orleans, leading them to nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl win. Along the way, he picked up dozens of awards and accolades that guarantee him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Now that Brees is done, a major obstacle in the NFC South for the Panthers is finally out of the way. Linebacker Shaq Thompson shared a post on Twitter showing his respect for Brees after all the battles they had.

LB Shaq Thompson

A classy post from a classy guy.

Thompson doing classy things and Brees retiring were relatively predictable things, though. One thing we didn’t see coming today was the Saints giving QB/TE/Whatever Taysom Hill a four-year, $140 million “extension” with a whole bunch of asterisks attached.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1371210999445983234

The devil is in the details, but those numbers are eye-catching numbers. They certainly got the attention of a couple Panthers players. Here’s what two of them tweeted about Hill’s weird new contract.

RB Mike Davis

LB Jermaine Carter Jr.

The move does help the Saints with the salary cap (they’re pretty good at that) and the four-year, $140 million tag is really a misrepresentation of what the actual deal is all about. Here’s how John Sigler at Saints Wire explained the “funny money” extension.

“Calm down, everyone: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the New Orleans Saints have restructured their contract with Taysom Hill in the wake of Drew Brees’ retirement, including $140 million over four years in a contract extension — but it’s funny money. . . Schefter clarified that Hill’s restructure lowers his salary cap hit by more than $7.5 million, converting most of his $10.72 million base salary into a signing bonus spread out over the years of this new (automatically voiding) contract.”

Makes a lot more sense than simply paying Taysom Hill $140 million over four years to play quarterback, doesn’t it?

That said, this move could indicate the Saints see Hill as their QB1 right now. We will find out depending on what they do with Jameis Winston, who is about to become an unrestricted free agent.

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