Tom Brady is the most high profile veteran quarterback who lost his first-round game in the playoffs and will now be a free agent, but he’s not the only one. There’s another quarterback who is headed home early that no one seems to be talking about, and he has just as prolific passing numbers as Brady. Drew Brees is set to be a gree agent in 2020 once his contract voids.
For some reason, no one is talking about Brees leaving New Orleans like they are talking about Brady leaving New England. There are a few reasons for that. First, the narrative doesn’t sell as well. Brady is the biggest name in the NFL. He is the greatest quarterback of all time, playing for on the best dynasties of all time, and his team has been constantly covered — for good or bad — for years now. Brees simply won’t garner as many eyeballs, clicks, paper sales, or whatever metric we want to use in today’s media.
There are other reasons as well. No one expects Brees to leave New Orleans and there’s apparently a shot that Brady could leave New England. If Sean Payton immediately stepped down as head coach of the Saints and suddenly took a job with the Dallas Cowboys, maybe Brees might have thought about leaving. That’s not happening now that Dallas looks to be signing Mike McCarthy as their new head coach. There’s not a new coach coming in to push Brees out and apparently, Payton isn’t as ruthless — or isn’t expected to be as ruthless — as Bill Belichick might be negotiating with Brady.
Maybe people are giving Brees more of the benefit of the doubt as well. He’s never discussed playing anywhere else. He’s never made it known that he wants to be in control of his destiny as a player where Brady has a few times. Brees doesn’t have a fledgling health and wellness company to pitch. No one even asked Brees if he was going to retire — and they did that with Philip Rivers — and no one is questioning how the Saints will sign Brees next year. It’s all kind of odd but makes sense at the same time.
There could be some teams in the market for Brees’ services. Tampa could make a run at Brees. They have more weapons than the Saints right now — sorry, but Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are better than Mike Thomas and whoever the Saints try to fill in across from the former Buckeye. If they think they can make a run at Brees they should. The Bears or Panthers could be interested — especially if the Panthers are in win-now mode. Brees played his college football in the midwest so make a run at him Chicago. Of course, none of those teams mentioned played in domes and Brees has gotten kind of used to playing inside at this point in his career.
Still, it’s odd that Brees isn’t getting the Brady treatment. No one is even questioning that he’ll be back in New Orleans next year. Maybe we should.