New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Saints Lose Two to Injury, Sign Two Free Agents

by Dave Lawrence, NewOrleansSaints.com
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 8:00 PM

The New Orleans Saints made a few roster moves Wednesday afternoon, as they determined that a pair of injured defensive linemen would not be fit enough to continue in the competition for roster spots.

Head Coach Sean Payton stated following the afternoon practice that the team had waived defensive end Jon Hamm and placed defensive tackle Lance Legree on the injured reserve list.

Hamm, a rookie free agent from Clark Atlanta University, injured his quad on the first day of practice Friday and had not been able to get back on the field since. Legree is a sixth-year defensive tackle that signed with New Orleans as a free agent in May after splitting his first six seasons with the New York Giants, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. The veteran defender injured his knee in practice earlier this week and will spend 2007 on IR.

Replacing the two injured players, the Saints signed a pair of free agents to push their roster back to its maximum number of 85, picking up defensive end Scott Scharff and tight end Ronnie Ghent.

Scharff, a 6-foot-3, 277-pound lineman who played collegiately at Stanford, is no stranger to the Saints, having spent much of the 2006 season on the team’s practice squad before injuring his knee during a late-season workout. Payton said that Scharff will quickly be brought up to speed and will be immediately inserted into a defensive end rotation that had been depleted by injuries to Hamm and Rob Ninkovich.

Ghent is a tight end out of Louisville who has spent parts of the last three seasons on the practice squad of the Cincinnati Bengals after first signing with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Standing 6-2 and weighing 253 pounds, the Lakeland, Fla. native will be worked into the mix at tight end beginning with the club’s preseason opener Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.

"I really wish it could've been Simeon Rice, but since the Giants are over him, I say give Michael Strahan a call. I know Strahan would love to play with a veteran defense and an explosive ofeense like ours. Hell, he might even play for the vet minimum....A fella can dream."