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Few teams have a quarterback situation as complicated as the New Orleans Saints face in 2020. All three rostered passers are going to be free agents — Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater are scheduled to test the open market, while the team will likely have right-of-first-refusal status for Taysom Hill. No matter what happens, Brees and Bridgewater have a combined $25.3 million in dead money on the books for 2020, though that can could be kicked further down the road with new deals.
Brees, who turns 41 next week, has said he’ll continue to take things year-to-year. It’s a safe bet that the’ll return given how well he played in 2019 (even if Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer out-dueled him and Sean Payton in the playoffs), but it’s not a completely-sure thing.
It’s easy to argue that Bridgewater should return to New Orleans and continue to wait it out, having proven himself a worthy heir-apparent when Brees missed five games with a hand injury. But asking a young player to ride the pine for two years is easier said than done, and Bridgewater shouldn’t lack for options in free agency.
Teams that could part ways with incumbent quarterbacks include the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Carolina Panthers. Neither Tom Brady nor Philip Rivers have committed to returning to the Patriots and Chargers, while Raiders coach Jon Gruden is famously fickle with his quarterbacks. Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians publicly vented frustration with Jameis Winston, while new Panthers coach Matt Rhule may want to start fresh after Cam Newton missed more than a year with injuries.
Other teams like the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars are determined to go down with the ship, anchoring themselves to bad starters like Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles (though Gardner Minshew gives Jaguars coach Doug Marrone a life-line). The Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins are targeting quarterbacks in the draft, while the Tennessee Titans may have caught lightning in a bottle with Ryan Tannehill.
So Bridgewater should have more suitors than he heard from last offseason, when the only serious offer came from the Dolphins. And Miami simply wanted him to be a sacrificial lion in their tanked 2019 campaign; Ryan Fitzpatrick played that role instead. It would be a serious stunner if the Saints can recruit Bridgewater into sticking around another year as a backup.
Even more unlikely is their option to use the franchise tag. It would guarantee Bridgewater more than $24 million in 2020 (official amounts are not yet set by the league office) but would keep him off the open market, and guarantee the Saints significant draft capital (two first-round picks) if another team tried to sign him. They’re already fairly cash-strapped, so this isn’t realistic.
An alternative could be the transition tag, which would fully-guarantee something north of $22 million. It offers the right of first refusal, allowing Bridgewater to negotiate a contract with another team which the Saints could opt to match. The downside is the Saints are left with no compensation should he leave. Even though the NFL is a business first and foremost, tagging Bridgewater to force him to remain with the Saints would be a huge reversal from the positive relationship he’s built with the team since they first traded for him. And for what it’s worth, Brees has a no-tag clause in his contract.
So neither of these options feel like routes New Orleans wants to take. The best situation for the team could be a repeat of the 2019 configuration; Brees and Bridgewater both return at depressed salaries (Brees drawing $20 million-plus as a starter, and Bridgewater getting around $8 million as a backup) while Hill plays on a low-cost restricted free agent tender. But that may not be a realistic expectation considering where each player’s career arc is trending.
Uncomfortable as it may be, fans will have to remain patient and let this process play out. We won’t know whether Brees or Bridgewater sign contract extensions until the free agent signing period is here, but the tag deadline (March 10, at 3 p.m. CT) is a date to circle on the calendar. Hopefully they work out something more amicable.
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