The Who Dat Nation can finally breathe a sigh of relief as Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints have agreed to a five-year contract worth $100 million on Friday, making the 33-year-old the highest-paid player in NFL History.
According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the deal will guarantee Brees an NFL-record $60 million, including a first-year take in 2012 of $40 million, according to league, players union, and team sources.
Brees' 2012 salary of $40 million is fully guaranteed. In 2013, the Saints will have a three-day window to release him after the waiver period begins, if not, Brees gets another $15 million of fully guaranteed earnings, bringing his two-year total to $55 million.
In 2014, the same scenario is in place before Brees is fully guaranteed another $5 million, with an additional $1 million in salary.
If Brees remains the team's quarterback for the next three years, he would make $61 million during that stretch, with $60 million fully guaranteed, the highest guaranteed total earnings for any NFL player in history. No player in NFL history has averaged $20 million per year.
Though the Saints are given a way out with the waivers, both the league and union view the $60 million as "guaranteed" because of the unlikelihood that the Saints would want to have paid Brees $40 million for one year or $55 million for two years.
The remaining $39 million to be earned in 2015 and 2016, under the same waiver, brings the potential grand total to $100 million over five years.
The deal came just two days before Monday's 4 p.m. ET deadline and just 11 days before the Saints are scheduled to report to training camp.
Brees must take a physical and sign the contract as a mere formality before training camp begins.
Although contract talks were intense and lasted weeks, this was a win-win for both sides and neither show signs of resentment of one-another.
