Saints Bounty Program: Will Debacle Force Drew Brees out of New Orleans?

We are in the midst of yet another NFL offseason filled with controversy and discontent. The lockout was leading news in 2011 when the entire league was in shambles, while 2012 has funneled its downbeat spotlight on a singular team—the New Orleans Saints.

Once the darlings of the NFL after winning the franchise’s first Super Bowl following the 2009 season as the city of New Orleans continued from Hurricane Katrina, the Saints are now the focal point of what has become known as "bounty-gate."

The Saints ran an illegal bounty system targeting opposing offensive players under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. As reported by Alex Marvez of Fox Sports, the league issued one of the harshest penalties in its history to those in the Saints’ organization it felt had direct involvement.

What is being lost in the shuffle, however, is the fact that quarterback Drew Brees was already dejected when the Saints placed the franchise tag—which he does not intend to sign—on him after long-term contract negotiations fell apart.

The fact that Brees wants a deal done before the start of the season was complex in and of itself, but throw in the fact that GM Mickey Loomis—one of the Saints’ brass suspended for his role in bounty-gate—will be restricted from team activities through Week 8 of the 2012 season, and the situation gets even murkier. Drew Brees could be forced out of New Orleans regardless of his outlook of the organization amidst the controversy.

Brees is the heart and soul of the New Orleans Saints and has embraced being the face of the franchise, but he also has a strong sense of pride and integrity and wants to be treated as such.

What Brees must realize is that the Saints’ placement of the franchise tag on him was not a sign of disrespect. The move merely afforded the organization additional time to hammer out a deal suitable for both parties.

The problem now is that the person negotiating on behalf of the Saints—Mickey Loomis—will be spending the majority of his time before the suspension begins dealing with the aftermath of bounty-gate. Although Brees is the most important piece to the Saints’ on-field success, issues off of it have become more imperative.

With that said, the absolute best way for the Brees talks to be handled would be for him to simply sign the franchise tender, play this season out and go into the 2013 offseason hoping that a deal can be done.

With all that going on around the organization, does it give Brees a get-out-of-jail-free card? By using bounty-gate as a scapegoat, Brees can maintain his flawless image by deflecting any negativity surrounding his contract talks back to the Saints’ organization—all the while preserving his value to other potential suitors.

But does Brees want to leave behind a city he helped rebuild after a non-sports tragedy, or stay and attempt to repair what is left after a disaster directly related to the Saints organization? That's the million dollat question. 

We are all aware of Brees’ relationship with the city of New Orleans—that isn’t the issue. The predicament that Brees would find himself in, however, regardless of his involvement in bounty-gate (none that we know of), is that being the face of the franchise, everything associated with the Saints is tied to him.

Brees obviously has two options. He can either preserve his pure image by using bounty-gate to continue his career in another uniform. Or he can risk it all and help facilitate another recovery project, albeit this time in-house.

Whatever Brees decides, the NFL is all but guaranteed another polarizing storyline surrounding one of its quarterbacks, something we have grown very accustomed to recently.

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