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The Saints will almost certainly bid for a free agent Corner this year. More than one would be a waste of cap money, as Fred Thomas does not need to be upgraded. Chris McAllister is almost certainly off the market.

I would rate the rest of the Fa Corners like this.
1. Champ Bailey - Unlikely to become available.
2. Charles Woodson - His attitude might be an issue, but his skills are unquestionable.
3. Shawn Springs - Young and talented, but unlikely to be available.
4. Ahmed Plummer - Good cover corner who wont get tagged (49ers will tag Peterson)
5. Troy Vincent - Skilled but aging, might be too expensive for what youre getting.
6. Fernando Bryant - Young but not as talented as some that will be available.
7. Bobby Taylor - Old and will likely be overpriced.

I also think the Saints should maybe try out Ambrose at Safety next season. He has slowed down a step or two but is still talented. Aeneas Williams made the jump for the Rams last year and did very well, after age was starting to show the past couple seasons when he played corner. What do you all think?

[Edited on 11/2/2004 by Cadillac]

[Edited on 11/2/2004 by Cadillac]

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Welcome aboard Caddy ;)
Your prose appears familiar....
There\'s a lot of negativity on this board, but for the most part justified, but way to recurring.

I think we\'re down to about 4 optimists now and I hope you join our sunshine club.

BTW: How do you feel about the whole Aaron Brooks situation?

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I\'m definitely an optimist. I mean it\'s dissapointing that the Saints havent made the playoffs the past couple years, but I kind of feel they were 3 bad breaks away from making the playoffs... The last games against Tampa and Carolina, and of course the game against the Jags could of easily went our way. Theres not a huge difference in the teams that go 8-8 and the teams that go 11-5 anymroe.

As for Aaron, I think he is a good, but not great, QB. I think he is more accurate than people give him credit for. I think he reads coverages well (and only throwing 8 interceptions is tough to argue against). The fumbles were a big problem this year, but if Haslett gets him practicing taking snaps and handing the ball off, that shouldn\'t be as much of a problem next year. He isn\'t good enough to carry the team, but with Deuce in the backfield he doesn\'t have to.

And hey, if Trent Dilfer was talented enough to win a superbowl, you better believe Aaron is.

[Edited on 11/2/2004 by Cadillac]

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Somebody check that Man\'s IP addy. I like the way he thinks!

:P

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Cadillac

Noticed Winfield was not on your list , any insight there ??

Bills have roughly 8 Mil under the cap so he could slip out .

1 Champ Bailey Redskins UFA 26 9.10
2 Charles Woodson Raiders UFA 27 8.95
3 Chris McAlister Ravens UFA 27 7.25
4 Antoine Winfield Bills UFA 27 6.55
5 Troy Vincent Eagles UFA 34 6.35
6 Bobby Taylor Eagles UFA 30 6.00
7 Fernando Bryant Jaguars UFA 27 5.95
8 Shawn Springs Seahawks UFA 29 5.80
9 Ahmed Plummer 49ers UFA 28 5.75
10 Will Peterson Giants RFA 25 5.45

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Apologies, Winfield being left off was a completely unintentional. I would place him right under Shawn Springs He doesn\'t quite have Baileys or Woodsons ability, but he definitely has big time talent.

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Welcome Cadillac.

We members of the sunshine club (if indeed I am still a member) can always use a few more happy people. Your attitude does seem familiar, but I\'m not sure if there is some inside joke I am missing?

As for your question about corners, I am actually of the opinion that we should take a long look at Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent. Of course, each will be a bit more expensive and they are not long term solutions, but both of them have winning attitudes and a butt-load of experience; those are two things that our defense is badly in need of. We should then try to draft a CB with potential with one of our two 2nd round picks.

As for moving Ambrose to Safety, I\'m not sure why we need another Safety? All disparagement of T-buck aside, why would we want a Ambrose, who will undoubtedly be slower than Mel and T-buck, to have to learn a new position? Sometimes the transition goes well, but in our case we are not in despirate need so why force it? I don\'t see any reason not to keep Ambrose as a nickle back; it\'s not like he is that much slower or is generally sucky in any way.

Cheers.

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I personally would prefer either Winfield or Bryant from the above lists.

What do you guys think about going after a couple of restricted free agent corners?

Either of these players would make a nice addition. Both are young. What round pick would you give up for them?

Jerametrius Butler, Rams (RFA)
Stats http://<a href="http://www.nfl.com/p...age/235032</a>

Nick Harper, Colts (RFA)
Stats http://<a href="http://www.nfl.com/p...age/223763</a>

Thoughts?

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Jerametrius Butler? Nick Harper? are you kidding me? i think we could take a better corner in the draft with much more potential....

on the ambrose note, i think he was considerably slower this year yet he always seemed to make a big play in ever game, yet he gave up big yards everygame but he did make a big play!!

i like winfield. not bryant so much, im not sold on his ability to grow as a player....if i had my choice, id take champ bailey and charles woodson but they will both be expensive.... i also like shawn springs, he was injured most of this year and he could be a big addition and likely wouldnt cost as much as bailey or woodson

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Champ Baily on a 5 year deal, even though expensive, would allow us a nice long term solution to what seems like a perennially weak secondary.

I just don\'t have confidence in the coaching staff to develop players. I\'d far rather pick a proven commodity who can perform at a high level than trust Has and co to \"coach him up\".

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I agree that Champ is the best option. I just don\'t think we\'ll get a shot at him.

I\'m not sure what I think about our inability to bring players along. I think it is more likely that we just overestimate the ability of people we have. That is, they do improve, they just didn\'t have any where near the potential we were lead to believe. I\'m having some trouble thinking of examples, but it seems to me that C. Grant, F. Thomas, M. Lewis, J. Horn, and S. Knight are all counter examples to the claim that we have trouble developing people here in NO. At any rate, I think the argument may still hold: we shouldn\'t bring some new kid with potential on board because we may badly misestimate his potential (see anyone on our current linebacker corps).

On the Ambrose note, do you really think he is too slow to still play in a CB role? Even at nickle or dime? What about special teams? I didn\'t really get much chance to observe his play this season, but I have always really liked him.

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I definitely think Ambrose is a great dime back and probably still has the skills to play the nickel role as well. I only made the safety comment because sometimes guys that were top tier cornerbacks move to safety for their last few seasons, and are able to keep play at very high levels. Letting an experienced player like Ambrose watch the QB instead of having to worry about running with the reciever might result in a lot of picks, and Ambrose has shown he has a nose for the ball. I didn\'t mean to question Ambroses ability to play nickel back, I was simply wondering what peoples opinons were on whether or not they thought he might be an upgrade at the safety position.

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No, actually I\'m not. As much as any of us want to hope and dream that our team will pull one of the top FA corners off the market this offseason, the reality is (as history has shown us) that we will not. I even think F. Bryant may be a long shot for us because of the negative fan reaction to T. Jones\'s first season. Either of the guys listed above would be an improvement over any corner on our roster (except F. Thomas).

What\'s more, every single cornerback in the draft (with maybe the exception of Hall) is at least a year or so away from starting. So, once again we would spend a first round pick on a \"project\" when our defense needs help now. The linebackers in this draft, however, are capable of joining our squad as starters.

Therefore, I would much rather see us sign a second (or even third) tier cornerback in free agency that could start and impact right away. Then we can use our first round pick on either a linebacker or a DT.

Would I rather have Champ Bailey or Chris McAlister? Sure. But Christmas is a long way off, and I would rather talk about what the Saints have a real shot at doing in FA than prognosticate about deals that will never see ink.

So, no, I wasn\'t kidding. ;)

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Regarding Ambrose at corner (and in spite of what the conspiracy theorists would have us believe), the reason Sammy isn\'t around anymore is because of his lack of speed. There\'s NO WAY the Saints would put Ashley in at corner...servicable as a nickle and dime, but his starting days are over, period.