No Trade or Franchise Tag for Drew Brees, Making Him Question-mark to Return to Saints

New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees is in a contract year after signing a, $44.25 million contract extension before last season started. He made $20 million last year and is set to make the rest this season. If you're doing the math at home that amounts to $24.25 million, this season. What will the future hold for the 38-year old future Hall of Fame Saints Quarterback?

Normally, a team can franchise tag a player and keep him under team control for the year. However, in this case there's a clause in his deal that is rarely made part of a normal NFL contract that will prohibit the use of the handy franchise tag (Via Adam Schefter).

Drew Brees loves being a staple in the city of New Orleans and being part of a Saints organization where he's been vastly successful. He's said in the past, "I want to play my entire career here, I'll be here for as long as they want me." (Katie Sharp).

But just how long will the veteran New Orleans staple play? We haven't seen a decline to date, specifically based upon last years numbers where he led the league in passing yards for the seventh time in his career (5,208 yards).

Saints fans head into the 2017 season with optimism that the infusion of youth on the defensive side of the ball will pay off and that the offense will keep rolling along. If that's the case, this team should be able to break their three year streak of 7-9 records and be in contention for a playoff spot as well.

A big part of fans' optimism from year to year lays on the right shoulder of Drew Brees and his ability to elevate this offense. He's a free agent after this season and with the team not being able to franchise tag him or block him from leaving, things could take a turn. A turn that would see him leaving town in order to receive his final big pay day of his career. Cap hits and money have consistently been an issue when it comes to the Saints but the bottom line is, life without Drew Brees will be a rough one with no viable replacement in place behind him.