Three premier quarterbacks have been claimed off the waiver wire in the past 24 hours as Case Keenum and Kirk Cousins have agreed to sign with new teams once free agency officially opens on March 14th, while Drew Brees has agreed to re-sign with his current team.
Minnesota hopes to have found their new franchise QB after offering Kirk Cousins a $28 million per year deal. Cousins will hope to parlay a controversial yet impressive six-year career in Washington into a winning tenure in Minnesota. Though Cousins had three straight 4,000 yard seasons and in 2015, led Washington to just their second division title since 2000, the Washington brass never felt like Cousins was their franchise QB and instead opted to trade for Alex Smith.
As for the man he’s replacing, Case Keenum will be taking his talents to the mile high city as John Elway, and the Denver Broncos were able to lock up the former Minnesota Viking. Keenum is coming off his best season as a pro, throwing for a career-high 3,547 yards, with a career-high 23 total touchdowns. Keenum, who was previously a career backup, took over for the injured Sam Bradford in the second game of the season and became the starter for the rest of the season. Keenum led the Vikings to an NFC North division title and the NFC Championship game. Even after leading the Viking one game away from the Super Bowl, Minnesota felt it was time to move on in a new direction and declined to franchise Keenum making him a free agent.
In much less surprising news, despite reports that multiple teams had inquired, Drew Brees is staying put and has agreed to re-sign with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints just won the NFC South for the first time since 2011, and Brees was the steady hand guiding the ship. Brees had his worst season stat-wise since joining the Saints, but much of that can be attributed to the new found balanced attack the Saints have employed. Running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara made Brees’ life much easier this season, but the Saints wanted to make sure they still had their franchise legend under center. Brees’ new contract will be for two years worth $50 million, and will likely be his final one as the future hall-of-famer just turned 39.