Since the New Orleans Saints saw their 2017 season end in the divisional round in the playoffs, there has been a constant stance that there is a strong desire on both sides to see quarterback Drew Brees return to the team.

However, this dialogue will shortly need to be turned from words to papers as the team has until March 14 to work out a new deal with Brees or else the final years of his contract will become void, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.

What we don’t know about Brees is how he and the Saints will get his contract to where it needs to be for this to happen. They can’t simply do nothing. If they do nothing, those final three contract years void at the start of the new league year on March 14, and the Saints will be stuck with $18 million worth of signing bonus prorated on this year’s salary cap in addition to whatever salary they end up paying Brees for 2018. This would be a crusher, and New Orleans can’t let it happen, which is why March 14 is a very real deadline for Brees and the Saints to come to agreement on some kind of new contract.

The Saints currently have just over $32 million in salary cap space projected for this upcoming offseason. If the front office were to allow Brees' deal to expire it would take a huge hit their available financial flexibility significantly decrease to make any additional roster moves.

If New Orleans lets that current deal expire, the $18 million will not only count against the cap but also included as additional pay in a possible deal with Brees. The five-year deal that he had originally signed was technically a two-year contract with the last three years being the pro-rated $30 million signing bonus that balances out to $6 million per season. This pushes the urgency to get a new contract place before that deadline reached to have their star quarterback back in the mix.

Although Brees is now 39-years-old, he is still playing at a high level finishing fourth in the league with 4,334 passing yards, first with a 72.0 completion rate, and second with a 103.9 passer rating. It also marked his 12th straight season with more than 4,000 passing yards, and his sixth posting a passer rating above 100. He did experience a notable drop in touchdown passes, but that came directly due to the offense now having balance behind their two-headed running game of Pro Bowlers Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.