Can Saints win 2nd Super Bowl with aging Brees? New Orleans must make changes
Forget about the money for the moment.
Can the New Orleans Saints win a second Super Bowl with the soon-to-be 37-year-old Drew Brees as their quarterback in 2016?
Plain and simple.
I, for one, do not think so. That window of opportunity has closed.
They didn't win it all when he counted $10.4 million against the salary cap in 2012. They didn't win it all when he counted $17.4 million against the cap in 2013. They didn't win it all when he counted $18.4 million against the cap in 2014. And they didn't win it all when he counted $23.8 million against the cap this season.
So why would anyone of sane mind think the Saints can win it all next season when he is scheduled to count a staggering $30 million against the cap, approximately 20 percent of the team's allotment under the league's collective bargaining agreement? Even if Brees would agree to take a "hometown discount'' and reduce his cap number to say $20 million, the chances are slim of the Saints becoming league champions any time soon.
The necessary pieces are not in place now to project that this franchise will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LI or LII or LII, with or without Brees under center. Nor do I believe that General Manager Mickey Loomis, Coach Sean Payton and their football operations will take the necessary steps or make the right decisions in the offseason to accomplish that goal.
Believe what you want. That's your choice.
But that ship has sailed.
I am not a proponent of Saints owner Tom Benson selling his NFL team. However he wants to spin it, I think he needs to make changes at the top of his football operations in the coming weeks, beginning with Loomis and Payton.
I ask what have they done lately?
This franchise is not ascending under their watch, it is descending.
The defense has been historically bad under the last 2 1/2 coordinators -- Steve Spagnuolo, Rob Ryan and now Dennis Allen. The team has missed the playoffs in three of the last four years. It has failed to eclipse the .500 mark for two full seasons. No primary Pro Bowl selections this season, though some could surface as substitutes in the coming days and weeks.
If Brees remains at his current 2016 cap number of $30 million, you're not going to see Superman or any other superhero come through their facility doors off Airline Drive in Metairie in the offseason.
Mr. Benson should not sell. He should not raise season ticket prices, either. But he should make changes in his football operations, not for the sake of change but because the once formidable one-two punch of Loomis and Payton no longer packs a wallop.
What better time for changes than the start of a New Year.
Out with the old, in with the new.
What does Benson have to lose, especially if he's in it to win it as he claims to be?
Brian Allee-Walsh, a long-time Saints reporter based in New Orleans, can be reached at Sports@sunherald.com.
This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Can Saints win 2nd Super Bowl with aging Brees? New Orleans must make changes ."