Drew Brees won 12 games as a 42 year old in 2020 with the Saints. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees has agreed to renegotiate his salary down to the NFL minimum in 2021, a move that would save the New Orleans Saints considerable space under the salary cap next season, a person with knowledge of the situation said Friday night.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the Saints nor Brees have publicly discussed the new contract agreement, which was first reported by overthecap.com.
While the 42-year-old Brees has not announced his retirement, guaranteed money from his previous contract, which ran through 2021, would have counted more than $22 million against the salary cap next season if the record-setting QB chose to stop playing this year.
Under the newly agreed upon contract, Brees could help the Saints by waiting until June to retire, at which point his guaranteed money would be effectively split between 2021 and 2022, providing the Saints with more than $11 million in additional salary cap space in 2021. However, Brees contract also would count around $11 million against New Orleans’ 2022 salary cap.
Brees has played 20 NFL seasons, including the past 15 with the Saints, and is the NFL’s all-time leader in yards passing with 80,358.
His 571 career touchdown passes rank second behind only Tom Brady’s 581.
Brees won nine of 12 regular season starts while completing 70.5% of his passes in 2020, and then won a wild-card round playoff game against Chicago before New Orleans’ season ended with a divisional-round loss to eventual NFC champion Tampa Bay and the 43-year-old Brady, who plays in his 10th Super Bowl on Sunday against Kansas City.
DRAFT: Former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has a labrum injury in his non-throwing shoulder that will need to be repaired surgically, according to his agents who told multiple reporters on Friday.
The Jaguars are still expected to select Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in the April draft.
Instead of working out for teams at Clemson’s Pro day in March, Lawrence has moved up his plans to work out for NFL teams, which is expected to include the Jaguars, on Feb. 12.
Considered to be the top quarterback draft prospect since Andrew Luck, Lawrence went 34-2 in three seasons as a starter for Clemson. Lawrence finished No. 2 in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith last month.
The Jaguars clinched the No. 1 overall pick after finishing with the worst record in the NFL at 1-15 after closing out on a franchise-record 15-game losing streak. A day after the regular-season ended, Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Doug Marrone after four seasons.
49ERS: Charlie Krueger, a star defensive tackle who spent his 16-year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers, has died. He was 84.
The team said Saturday he died in Clayton, California, but did not disclose other details. The San Francisco Chronicle said the cause was heart and kidney failure.
Krueger played for the 49ers from 1958 to 1973, one of the longest tenured players in team history. He was part of teams that won three consecutive NFC West titles from 1970-72. His No. 70 jersey was retired in 1974 and he joined the club’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.