After picking up his 5th-year option, the hope is that Bresee can be a long-term piece.
One reason New Orleans Saints fans have a bit of worry when draft season rolls around is the team's recent long list of first-round misses. Sometimes, the Saints make the absolutely correct decision, and that player is a pillar of the team; other times, it sets back the franchise for years. One player, DT Bryan Bresee, really does not fit under those two outcomes.
After trading away Sean Payton to the Denver Broncos, the Saints got a first-round pick in return and selected Brees with it. Selecting Bresee made all the sense in the world, given DT's need, Bresee's high-impact pass-rush ability, and ideal measurables for the team. But his career has not been worthy of the first-round pick.
While that predicted pass-rush production flashed throughout his first two seasons, it was paired with poor run defense. Fans and the team saw the highs and lows of Bresee, but the lows were outweighing most of the positive things the talented DT could do.
Going into the 2025 season, after hiring highly valued DT coach Bo Davis and switching to Brandon Staley's 3-4 defense, there was hope that Bresee could finally take that next step. The 3-4 defense would allow him to play DE and use his pass-rushing skills. Adding that to the hopeful run defense development from learning under Davis, Bresee was getting all the opportunities in the world to succeed.
Well, in the 2025 season, Bresee did do just that. His pass-rush production dropped, which could be attributed to learning a new scheme, but his run defense improved. It's not a strenght of his game, but he proved he could further develop his skills. This made the Saints' decision to pick up Bresee's 5th-year option a pretty easy one.
Now that Bresee will be on the team for at least two more seasons, everyone involved hopes the talented DT can improve further, potentially leading to a contract extension.
Looking at what Bresee would need to do to get that contract extension basically guaranteed, let's start with the run defense. Although last season was a good start, a bit more improvement would go a long way. The Saints' run defense is still not where it needs to be, so if Bresee can make a larger impact against the run, it will be noticeable.
Next is thriving in Staley's scheme. Hopefully, with more players who match what Staley wants to run, Bresee can get more reps at 3-4 DE. This will be the perfect time for Bresee to show that he can be an important piece in this scheme moving forward. Including the run defense, the main way that can happen is by getting back to the pass-rush production we saw in his first two seasons.
Really, in the end, the main thing for BResee will be to put everything he has learned together and become a more complete DT for the Saints. Improving further on that will only make his contract extension more and more expensive for the Saints.