Why the 2020 season is crucial for Drew Brees’ legacy with the Saints

However you slice Patrick Mahomes’ blockbuster deal, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is going to make a boatload of money over the next 12 seasons, upwards of $500 million by all accounts.

Call it the NFL’s version of a stimulus check in this pandemic strapped world.

And to think only eight short years ago, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees signed a five-year, $100 million deal that made him the highest-paid quarterback on average in NFL history at the time.

How times have changed!

Brees’ deal included $60 million in guarantees, including a $37 million signing bonus. He celebrated the historic occasion by lunching at one of his Jimmy John’s sandwich shoppes — extra mayo on the Ultimate Porker.

Brees’ deal came on the eve of training camp in July 2012 and capped a tumultuous offseason, months after the league handed down unprecedented franchise-wide sanctions in the wake of Bountygate that included the season-long suspension of coach Sean Payton.

By every account, Brees deserved his riches. He helped orchestrate the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship in 2009 (XLIV) and consistently played at an elite level since joining the franchise in 2006. The team’s future looked extremely bright with Engine No. 9 under center.

And with the big contract came high expectations.

Ah, the best laid plans ...

So, here we are a decade later and Brees and the Saints surprisingly remain a one-hit wonder, 10 seasons removed from their first and only Super Bowl championship. One might argue if not for the Bountygate fiasco, poor supporting casts (translated: historically inept defenses) and some awful luck, the Saints might have three or four league titles by now.

I know: coulda, woulda, shoulda! But it’s the truth.

Make no mistake, the Saints have had their chances, especially the past three seasons when they’ve been ousted from the playoffs in stunning fashion by crushing walk-off losses, and again in 2011 when the home-standing San Francisco 49ers rose from the ashes to win in the waning seconds.

I contend that 2011 team might have been the best from top to bottom in franchise history.

Which makes this season — if indeed it is Brees’ last hurrah at age 41 — so vitally important to his legacy. Unquestionably, he’s in the discussion for G.O.A.T. status in terms of the regular season. He’s among the best quarterbacks of all time when it comes to games played between September and December.

But he needs a second Lombardi Trophy to distance himself from the likes of Trent Dilfer, Joe Flacco, Brad Johnson, Nick Foles and other one-time Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks and to ensure a quick entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s no different than Patrick Mahomes, the 24-year-old phenom who’s now expected to deliver huge returns on the Chiefs’ half-a-billion-dollar investment and further validate his 2018 MVP season and MVP-performance in Super Bowl LIV.

Truth be told, the money is a down payment on several more Lombardis.

This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 12:31 PM.