:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/1227647/GYI0061838447.jpg)
You have probably heard this news by now, but Drew Brees has a new contact and is getting a boat load of money. Initial reports on the contract is a five year contract worth $100 million total, $20 million per year, $60 million guarnteed and a $37 million signing bonus. Congrats to Saints fans and all our buddies over at Canal Street Chronicles, that's a franchise in need of some good news.
Now what does this mean for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers? Well I'll start with a simple concept with a complex name: the time value of money. If you have studied accounting or law you probably know this theory, and even if you haven't you probably get what this means on an intuitive level. Roughly stated, the time value of money states that a dollar is worth more today than it is tomorrow. This is why you pay interest on loans. Now, whether or not you think that Brees is a better QB than Rodgers or not, you have to see that in the near future Rodgers is going to be paid more than Brees.
Why? Glad you asked. The Packers are probably not going to sign Rodgers to a new deal before training camp, but a deal will probably get done over the next year or so. The longer the Packers wait the higher the contract will have to be in order to roughly equal to Brees due to the time value of money. If you are one of those people who think Rodgers is better than Brees (and right now that would be ESPN, Ron Jaworski, the AP, the players who voted for the Top 100 players as well as countless scouts and NFL personnel) then you will have to add some money on top of this current benchmark as well. So expect around $22-25 million per year, probably around $65-70 guaranteed. Throw in a $40 million signing bonus and that sounds about right.
All in all this is probably good news for the Packer fans. The negotiations shouldn't be as drawn out and contentious as Brees' contract talks were. The Packers and Rodgers know the value of a top 3 QB in the league right now and it's just a matter of finding the right balance for the deal that guarantees money for Rodgers and gives the Packers cap space to continue having a stacked roster. Easier said than done, but not impossible and not nearly as hard a player trying to set a new benchmark.
