5 questions
 

1. With all the losing and adversity the Saints have been going through this year, unless Bentley is franchised, do you think he will want to resign with us?

2. Was that 8 plus million dollar one year rental of Darren Howard worth it and will he be here next year? If no, who deserves the bulk of the blame if he leaves and we get nothing in compensation?

3. Is this the final year we see Gandy in a Saints uniform or do we try to convert him into a guard?

4. Do we resign Grant to a long term extension after his disappointing season knowing that Howard will not be here next year? Also, do you believe that he will rebound and regain his 2004 form if he does sign an extension?

5. A lot of people in here was pushing for the Mayberry signing this offseason... do you regret it?

RE: 5 questions
 

1. I like Bentley. That being said, if he chooses to play hardball in the offseason, he would be the easiest of the "Fab 5" to replace. There will be 3-4 nice centers entering the draft this year.
2. Yes, because it kept him in a Saints uniform, and not off signing with another team. If the money is available now, I'm all for spending it. If he leaves, and we get nothing, I blame Loomis for not getting the deal done.
3. Everyone is quick to hold Gandy's feet in the fire, but nobody offers any type of alternate solution. As of right now, he is still the best and most viable option we have at that position, unless we draft someone like Ferguson, or someone of his caliber, or, sign someone in the offseason.
4. I think you do, but I wouldn't go anymore than 4 years. Players have down years, I'm willing to take a gamble on him, based off his performance from previous years.
5. Yes.

RE: 5 questions
 

1. I personally believe centers and guards come a dime a dozen. We can easily get a solid NFL player btw the 3-7th rounds of the draft. I would be disappointed to see him go but we'll manage without him.

2. If he leaves and we get nothing, he wasn't worth it. From our record, not many players on the field deserve the money they are making. I would have rather a trade for a high round pick. I share the blame on both Loomis and Haslett on this one.

3. I will have to agree with BnB. We have no other options at this position and he's not as bad as people make him out to be. At his age, he is still holding his own against the top ends out there. Unless we sign or draft someone, we'll have him and his bloated salary for another season.

4. I think the world of Grant and with Smith on the other end next season, I think he'll rebound just fine. I think out of all the positions on this team, DE is the least thing we have to worry about next year.

5. I was opposed of the signing on Mayberry last year. So yes, I regret us signing him. I was all for Jacox and Holland starting as I still am.

1. I wanna see Bentley stay 1000%. I'd franchise him, centers don't make THAT much money where it would break us. And after next year, our location situation could be settled, plus franchising him would still allow us the freedom to work a long term deal with him.

2. No it wasn't worth it to keep Howard and no and no he will not be here next year. Too expensive. We should have traded him, and gotten Odell Thurman to help our LBs corps in the second round. or Corey Webster. I blame Loomis if he walks for nothing cause there were too many reports of deals on the table for ALL of them to have been false.

3. Gandy is done IMO. Give stinch a chance once he comes back from injury, or nab Eric Winston in the second round. Gandy was done last year. Plus he makes too much for his play, and he already had a heart attack at assuming someone asked him to renegotiaite. Bye bye.

4. Yes we resign Grant and yes we give him an extension. His play IMO is more the result of double teams that free other players like Young, Smith, and Howard. Also Bryant. You ever notice how many times young get into the backfield so freely? To me, it seems teams feel he is not worth the double team, and Grant is. When I went to the Atlanta game, Grant was hugely disruptive, although it didn;t register in the stat columns. Gotta keep him.

5. I was right there with you against getting Mayberry and haven't changed my mind at all. What a waste.

You should re-word question #2. If I had the choice of franchising Howard last year or letting him walk, I would have had him franchised every time. There was no mention in your question regarding any type of trade. All you asked was,
If the $8 million was there, you spend it. If it is indeed a rental, you spend it. I still think that when he is moved inside, he outshines the majority of our DT's. Not my fault the coaching staff can't recognize that.

Quti nit-picking you ninny. :P

1. Resign
2. It was not worth it, but that is hindsight. Either get a long term deal done for reasonable money or part ways with him. This has been a horrible year and no one deserves that kind of money if they don't step up and get there unit/team to deliever

3. Gandy should have been gone last year, same as this let him go.
4. Offer him a deal but nothing to major... if not part ways, we have so many areas of needs and he isn't helping.
5. what were they thinking...

I know... I was trying to get some action in here. Stop being so picky!

On Howard moving inside, I was all for it during the offseason. I believe I was getting slammed by so many people because they didn't think he fit there and the fact he said he didn't want to play there. If you are getting 8 mil a year, you better damn well play where the heck I tell you play. If we were to resign him to play inside at a reasonable price, I'm all for it. If an undersized Glover can play inside effectively and make all those ProBowls, Howard should more than hold his own in there as he already have shown in the past.

Re: 5 questions
 

1. Want to resign ??? No way .......

2. Waste of money on Howard

3. Cut Gandy

4. Keep Grant

5. Mayberry needs a good O.C. and frontline coach , the Saints aint got it .....

So then the $8 million should have gone into Benson's pockets? I'd rather give it to Howard and let him wipe his ass with it.

Re: 5 questions
 

1. Resign Bentley --- but if he wants to leave so be it -- lots of top centers in the draft
2 & 4 lumped together === Keep either Howard or Grant and get rid of the other one. Team whomever with Will Smith
3. Gandy has gotten way too much heat -- he is starting material -- and if you look at the lasty 2 games I think you will see the O-line starting to jell.
5. I do not regret mayberry. Lets wait and see until the end of the season. It takes time for an line to jell and play together -- and remember we have 2 new starters.

Re: 5 questions
 

I've been disappointed in Bentley all year. We get an awful lot of rush up the middle. If he'll re-sign for a moderate payday, I would keep him. If he asks for a lot, I would get rid of him. Hasn't impressed me since he was a guard.

I've always liked DH, but I've been extremely disappointed in our pass rush this year. In my heart of hearts, what I want to believe is that Venturi and the D-Line coach (can't remember his name) is limiting our players. I don't know how they go from being so productive to so seemingly worthless, pretty much across the board. Were it a reduction in a single player, I I fault the player. When I see a reduction in a group of players, who all play roughly the same spot - then it's something else. D-line coach, perhaps?

Though he really is not much of a LT, he is a great locker room leader. Since we have so few, I would like to see him stay on the team - perhaps as a backup or move him inside? He still seems to be strong enough and has decent technique, just is slow.

Re-sign him. See above for my thoughts on Defensive coaching and it's effect on this D-Line.

I was really high on Mayberry... but this kind of thing seems to happen to us often. (i.e. Dale Carter, our famous thieving WR, etc.) Regret, regret, regret....

As an answer to 6. (Do we keep Venturi?) - I would say fire Venturi and the D-Line coach.

RE: Re: 5 questions
 

Why are people so down on Mayberry? I still think he was a good pick-up, and can be a good player for this team in the future. Maybe he's just having a bad year, having a hard time adjusting to the nomadic Saints' ways, or plenty of other reasons. I think it's way too early to give up on him after he was so good in Philadelphia...

RE: Re: 5 questions
 

Awesome questions:

1. I hope that the Saints do whatever it takes to sign Bentley. The center is the QB of the line. Success starts up front and in the middle of the line. Bentley is one of the best centers in the league - we've gotta make sure that he gets what he wants and comes back.

2. We weren't spending it on anything else were we? Yes - Howard is still the best DE we've got, but Smith is quickly becoming a freak. I'd like to see the Saints keep Howard and Smith personally - give Howard the money we're going to have to pay Grant.

3. God I hope so. Gandy was poo when we got him, now he's mushy poo.

4. I'd like to keep Howard and Smith, but if Howard chooses to go or is too expensive, then yes, we've gotta resign Grant.

5. Yep. Holland is better now than Mayberry.

Re: 5 questions
 

I'm still not sold on Bentley as a center. He was a great guard. If he can't be a great center, move him back and get at least a good center. (I'm not saying he's not a good center, but we can find someone else who is easily enough). I'd like to keep him either way, but finances are starting to get tight.

No. Not worth it by about 5 mil, but we had no choice. Trading him would be the best thing that could happen at this point considering the contract. I'll take a second rounder.

Gandy was a disappointment in his first year with the Saints. His reputation kept him from getting called for holding as often as he was actually holding. That's probably still true now, but he's actually holding a lot more now and he's getting called for it more often as well. Don't bother moving him. Just cut him. As far as him being our best option...that's only because the FO didn't get us a better option -which there were plenty of in 2005 FA.

He's solid even if underacieving. Really depends on the $$$. I'd prefer Grant and Smith over Howard and Smith.

I'm starting to. I think the FO signed him to be out RT and got a break in the draft. They then acted like that was the plan all along. When will we quit signing over-the-hill FA lineman (see Gandy) from teams that really don't fight to keep them? Holland and Jacox were a couple of decent G's last year and were a lot less expensive. Benson might as well save the dough if we can get the same level of play for less.

My own question: 6. Why cut Horn?
Pretty much the same reason as 5. Is Horn's production this year really worth the big $$$ he's getting. I just believe that Stallworth and Henderson and a decent FA pickup for a 3rd WR (not Hakim, in other words) could have been just as productive and much less costly.

RE: Re: 5 questions
 

Thanks for the four straight pro-bowls, Joe, here's your pinkslip.

Scotty, I'm suprised at you. Stallworth is not there yet, bro.

RE: Re: 5 questions
 

Cutting Horn... hmm I was considering putting that in my set of questions tomorrow. Since you brought it up, we might as well do it here.

I would have do disagree with it. Although Stallworth has improved, he isn't ready to take over the lead role. If we can remember, I debated all offseason long that he's ready to breakout and take that position from Horn. I'm wrong. Maybe it's the system or maybe it's just him... he needs to be more consistent in order to fill that role of go to guy on this team. Horn isn't over the hill and his salary is justified because he is considered one of the top recievers in the game. Devery is certainly getting better but he's not even a consistent or reliable 3rd option as of right now. But with the strides he's making, I wouldn't count against that he'll be even better next year and proving me wrong.

Did Joe make the last 4 straight pro bowls? I thought there was a gap in there somewhere. Yeah, he didn't go in 2003. Ha BNB!! :P

Anyway, I was all for trading Horn to Detroit last year and drafting Mike Williams or something. Can't really say how that would have turned out as Mike has been healthy all year, but has had a terrible QB. Sound familiar? Even when Joe was healthy, like in the Minny game, he only had one catch. And remember how we used to talk about him playing through injuries? I had a feeling that would change when he got his money. Joe was always banged up, but he didn't have that new contract cushion. Now he does. It kinda sucks we weren't able to do more in his great years. I think personally it's all downhill from here, and I have no problem going with Stall, Devery, and Az full time. With some Chase Lyman hey papz? lol I also keep seeing Roydell perform for Tennessee, and get even more pissed. But anyway, we gave Joe the new deal, so he ain't going nowhere. So he will be what he is, an aging vet on a sub-par team. I don't know that we can cut him. So he'll be here. I just am not expecting much any more.

Does anyone know what kind of cap hit we'll take if we cut Joe? Isn't Joe WhoDat's boy? I'm pretty sure he'll have something good to say on this if he reads it.

I believed in Chase when we drafted him and I still do. If, a big if, he's healthy, he'll make an impact on this team in some way, shape, or form... whether it's catching passes, returning kicks, or passing out gatorade bottles dammit. :P Remember I admitted that we drafted him too early, but I don't regret not drafting him at all. He's a talent and so is Roydell whom I agree we should have tried to get. You would think him being from New Orleans, we would have had the best chance at evaluating his talent. Oh well that's the Saints for ya.

.. What generosity :)

.. "Giver", is what comes to mind...

Re: RE: Re: 5 questions
 

Stallworth may not be there yet, but I really think he'll get there more quickly playing and practicing the role rather than continuing to be #2.

Also, I'm sorry I'm so harsh, but the reality is that Joe isn't producing THIS YEAR equivalent to the money he is getting. The past years are gone. He got paid along the way. If he and other players have problems with the current pay structure, maybe they should suggest a 100% incentive based pay structure in which Joe could have been paid like a pro bowler when he was one. I don't think we should be paying him like a pro bowler this year when he clearly has not produced enough to be one.

That may be harsh, but it is the way I feel.

I was going to address this last night, but had a porno to make.

They were rolling coverage to Horn's side all night during the Vikings game. He dropped a few, he'll even admit that, but Sharper was practically shadowing him all night.
Stallworth and Horn are not the same type of receivers, the "great" offensive minds on this coaching staff aren't utilizing Stallworth's strengths anyway. There are alot of things that Horn can do, and Stallworth either can't, or hasn't shown that he can do.
If we're going to pay pro-bowl type money for every year he went to the pro-bowl, then the organization owes him another two years, because outside of 2002, he's never been paid anywhere close to that.
If we go down that road, we might as well have an accountant sitting on the sidelines with a checkbook, issuing checks for every good play that was made. That would be super- watching all the players running off the field, making a bee-line towards some little old man in a suit.