Many would look at the off season for the New Orleans Saints as a sports death march. Not only have they lost a head coach, a GM, staff, and players behind "bounty-gate", but they have yet to lock-up the most important piece to the puzzle Drew Brees. The Saints placed a franchise tag on Brees before the suspensions started to rain down much to the dismay of the former MVP. The last time Brees played under such designation he suffered a career-ending type injury on the last game of the season while a San Diego Charger. Many teams wrote him off after that except for the New Orleans Saints. Drew has been adamant that he will not start the season under a franchise tag; he wants to get paid.Should he resign with the Saints? The entire bounty program that caused the turmoil was designed to attack quarterbacks. Two of the more high targets, Brett Farve and Kurt Warner, ended their careers to Saints defensive "bounty" hits. Is Brees up to facing the possible retaliation from other defenses that missed out because their quarterback could not continue?
In the back of his mind he has to ponder; do I really know these people? Sean Payton has been suspended for the entire season for his cover-up of the whole bounty program after being warned a year prior. Saints GM Mickey Loomis will miss the half the season and has more recently been accused of having a device in his suite at the Superdome that would allow him to listen to the opposing team's headset conversations. Owner Tom Benson has not been willing to meet the QB's salary demands, but found over $300 million dollars to purchase the New Orleans Hornets. Brees' only saving grace to stick with the Saints may be the city of New Orleans. He and his wife have become pillars in the community since the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Saints fans can only hope that Saints management feel the same way.
-Rodney Fisher, RF Sports Radio
