NOLA- Defensive tackle Nick Fairley signed a four-year, $28 million deal with the Saints last March, but he didn't play after a team doctor discovered he had a heart condition. After Fairley made three visits to heart specialists, the Saints determined he could not play in 2017 and placed him on the non-football illness list.
But, because of how the contract situation played out, it's unclear what the Saints owe Fairley, and General Manager Mickey Loomis said Wednesday that both the team and Fairley have filed grievances with the NFL's management council. "There's grievances filed, so we have to go through the process," Loomis said. Loomis would not say where the grievances stand, and spokesmen for the NFL and NFL Players Association didn't immediately respond to emails Wednesday seeking details. The grievances were not filed recently, Loomis said, but he didn't provide a date. Fairley was due an $8 million signing bonus as part of his deal as well as $14 million guaranteed. It's unclear how much the Saints have already paid Fairley. ---------- I'm not going to lie to you, this contract dispute sucks. It sucks for Nick Fairley, who would undoubtedly rather be healthy enough to live up to the big money deal he earned than trying to bleed it for whatever it's still worth. It sucks for the Saints, who are forced into looking out for their business interests by doing all they can to recoup as much money as possible from a signing that - as callous as it sounds - turned out to be an awful investment. It sucks for the fans who were looking forward to having a fairly (no pun intended) big-ticket free agent signing work out for once. I don't fault either negotiating party, but hopefully there are no hard feelings when it all shakes out, because they made for quite the marriage when football was the primary focus. And in looking at this unfortunate situation with a football focus, it's tough not to come away even more impressed with what the New Orleans Saints were able to achieve this year. The wounds of backbreaking playoff ousting haven't completely healed, but the fact that they were even in a position for their championship aspirations to implode is a credit to just how well they were able to overcome an offseason that seemed to frighteningly foreshadow the all-too-familiar purgatory that is mediocrity. Between Terron Armstead's shoulder surgery, Nick Fairley's heart condition, and the misdiagnosis that inevitably ended Delvin Breaux's season before it began? There wasn't even a hospital bed available for the injured optimism surrounding the organization. To succeed despite the loss of one of the best left tackles in football (even if temporary), your best interior pass rusher, your most proven cover corner, and your first two games? It's impossible to give this year's draft class the praise they truly deserve, because they saved a season that could have redefined the franchise's future. As seven Saints make the most of their Pro Bowl trip, the "next year..." narrative no longer rings hollow. Hopefully the prolonged health and well-being of a young core keeps it that way while Sean Payton and staff add the missing pieces to a roster that - despite an IR that was more crowded than the ER - was realistically good enough to win a Super Bowl.
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