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Drew Brees has yet to announce his retirement, but hinting that he is preparing for it, he agreed with the Saints that he will drastically cut his 2021 salary.
Brees is currently under contract with a salary of $ 25 million in 2021, but has agreed to the league’s $ 1.075 million minimum, according to ESPN.
As explained by Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com, this reduces Brees’ ceiling for 2021 to $ 12.225 million, from the $ 36.15 million it would have been had he not accepted the salary cut. This means that Brees has just saved the Saints about $ 24 million in his salary cap once the new league year starts in March.
So Brees and the saints can wait until after June 1 to make their retirement official, when the saints can then split their $ 22.65 million cap between the 2021 and 2022 salary limits.
Even after this change, the saints are projected to be well above the salary cap for 2021, so more changes are sure to come. But a little creative accounting and Brees’ cooperation just made things a little easier for the Saints.