Saints GM 'Appreciative' of Drew Brees Signing Team-Friendly Contract

The New Orleans Saints agreed to a two-year, $50 million deal with quarterback Drew Brees, keeping the 19-year veteran in town for two more seasons.

The 41-year-old, who led the league with a 74.3 percent completion rate in 2019, is worth far more on the free-agent market. However, Brees intended to sign back with New Orleans on a team-friendly deal, which pleased general manager Mickey Loomis.

"We needed to know what Drew was going to count on our (salary) cap this year, what resources are we using because then that gives us the ability to do some other things," Loomis said on the New Orleans Saints Podcast (h/t Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com).

"To Drew's credit, his No. 1 goal was to make sure we had an opportunity to improve our roster, keep our roster together and be as competitive as we can be. I'm certainly appreciative of how he's handled that contract the last couple times because again the most important thing to him is we have a competitive team."

Brees also earned a $23 million bonus as part of his contract to stay with the Saints through 2021. The 13-time Pro Bowler has been with the team since 2006, winning one Super Bowl and two Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year awards.

New Orleans has been busy this offseason, notably signing wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and safety Malcolm Jenkins to multi-year deals. The Saints also reinvested in the offensive line, bringing back guard Andrus Peat.

The Saints look even stronger on paper than last year when they went 13-3 and won the NFC South.

The season ended in disappointment when New Orleans suffered an upset loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wild Card Round, but this year's team once again looks like a clear contender to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

That's in part because of Brees' contract discount.

By any measure, he was one of the five best quarterbacks in the league last year. In addition to his No. 1 completion rate, Brees was second in quarterback rating and fifth in adjusted yards per pass attempt, per Pro Football Reference. 

However, his average salary per year is tied for 14th among all quarterbacks, according to Over the Cap.

Brees finished the year as the NFL's all-time leader in passing touchdowns and passing yards.