Drew Brees is retiring. The Hall of Fame-bound New Orleans Saints quarterback made that official on Sunday in an all-time great Instagram post starring his children, who shared the news with the football world. So how does it influence the Saints’ high-stakes salary cap situation?
In brief, it doesn’t really change anything. Brees already agreed to a $24 million pay cut earlier this offseason, signaling his decision to step away from the game, meaning his 2021 salary cap hit is just $11.15 million. If he were moved to the reserve/retired list now, that would raise the hit to $22.65 million.
Instead, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that the Saints will wait until later this summer to file the retirement paperwork, which will designate Brees a post-June 1 cut and defer $11.5 million in dead money into 2022. His 2021 salary cap hit remains the same, and the remainder will be paid off next offseason. If the salary cap remains stagnant at $182.5 million, Brees will end up accounting for about 6% of it in 2022. If it rises, as is expected between the additional regular season game and new broadcasting rights contracts, then his final cap hit will be even more negligible.
That’s not quite the version of cap hell we’ve been told to expect for life after Brees. His departure leaves a huge void to fill at quarterback, but it’s not gutting the team financially. This is something the Saints have expected for years. Now it’s time to see the next step in their plan.
