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In their third meeting of the season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New Orleans Saints were defeated 30-20 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The NFC Divisional loss offered questions for the Saints.
Specifically, it put the question mark on the future of the New Orleans Saints quarterback situation.
Drew Bree’s Potential Retirement
The Saints fell 30-20 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in the NFC Divisional Round. As their season comes to an end, their future holds some uncertainty with quarterback Drew Brees. The Saints announced Brees is welcome back amidst reports Sunday was his final game in the Superdome.
Brees had this to say on his potential retirement:
“I’ll answer this question one time and that is I’m going to give myself an opportunity to think about the season, think about a lot of things just like I did last year and make a decision”
The Saints have Taysom Hill, free agent Jameis Winston and could potentially explore other long-term options if Brees were to retire. This off-season’s decision making is critical for the future of this franchise and there are a lot of big decisions to be made.
In over two decades the former Purdue quarterback has recorded his fair share of accolades. In 2010, Brees capped off the season with a Super Bowl victory and won the Super Bowl MVP. Furthermore, the quarterback has earned the leagues’ offense MVP award twice.
Salary Cap Issues
Aside from Bree’s potential departure, the Saints bring back a talented and loaded squad. Their one issue they are going to run into is a salary cap crisis. OverTheCap.com estimates they are $95 million over budget, with a potential to save $13.5 million if Brees were to retire.
Being so loaded with high-priced talent, their free agency play will have to be both smart and aggressive.
The Saints also have 10 veteran players returning with contracts each valued at $10 million or more. They will need to identify their long-term building blocks and reconfigure their roster around them to account for these issues.
