Mid-term Offseason Report Card
 

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the wake of the draft, here's a quick recap of our offseason moves thus far:

Who we lost:

Joe Horn - WR to ATL
John Carney - Cut
Ernie Conwell - Cut

Who we Signed:

Brian Simmons - LB from CIN
Troy Evans - LB from HOU
Kevin Kaesviharn - SS from CIN
Olindo Mare - PK from MIA
Eric Johnson - TE from SF
David Patten - WR from NE
Calen Powell - TE from WASH

How we used our Draft picks:
R p(ovr)
1 27(27) Robert Meachem WR TENNESSEE
3 2(66) Usama Young DC KENT
3 25(88) Andy Alleman OG AKRON
4 8(107) Antonio Pittman RB OHIO STATE
4 26(125) Jermon Bushrod OT TOWSON
4 27(126)Jason David - CB (compensatory pick to IND)
5 8(145) David Jones DC WINGATE
7 10(220) Marvin Mitchell ILB TENNESSEE

And the UDFA's (Thanks to Bobaganoosh):

Peter Dyakowski--OT---LSU
Walter Thomas--DT--NW MISS JC
Rhema McKnight--WR--Notre Dame
Tyler Palko--QB---Pitt
Pierre Thomas--RB--Illinois
Joe Porter--CB--Rutgers
Jake Kuresa--G--BYU
Pat McDonald--LS--Alberta
Wade Koehl--LB--Houston
Jon Hamm--DE--CLark Atlanta
Keith Greer--FB--Idaho

If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Looking at this, I am very pleased with the FO's offseason work. We lost one starter (Horn) on Offense and replaced him with Meacham (imporvement?), and upgraded at LB and CB. The rest of the draft was for deapth and they took some fliers on some small school guys that will require some work. I attribute the David signing as a draft move since all we really lost was that 126 pick.

Mid-term Grade: A

Let's hear yours...

You can't argue that we've upgraded from last season. We've kept the core units together on both sides of the ball, and for the most part without serious losses we've added depth and more potential to the reserves. I'm very happy with the unit we're likely to field come the regular season. We are definitely a team built to contend for the next 3-4 years for sure.

We also signed Faulk at LB

Great off season - upgrade at TE, K, LB, CB and S
Who knows about WR? Horn missed 10 games, so are we upgrading him or Copper?

Solid A, A+ if Thomas works out

For the entire offseason I'm going to give us a B+. Wasn't enamored by the draft, but I was enamored with our willingness to go get a corner in Jason David who can be solid starter and also with the signings of KK and Brian Simmons. I think Simmons will be a stud, I'm just not sure where he's going to play. Also, picking up Johnson and Mare could end up being big deals for us this offseason. The only thing preventing me from giving the entire offseason an "A" is because we failed to address our DT weakness at all. Not one signing, not one draft pick. And this was for a position that anybody who knows anything about the Saints would have labeled as the #2 or #3 biggest hole on this team. I do like the upgrades to the line in the draft, and the young corners might be able to contribute in sub-packages.