I love me some Carl Nicks blocking, don't get me wrong. I absolutely am crazy for the guy. I hope they sign him.

But unfortunately, my gut tells me that behind the scenes, we may be seeing sort of a "soft sell" transition out of the idea of seeing Carl Nicks in a Saints uniform:

1) the fight/argument with the coaches during the Rams game
2) they gave him that one year deal in 2010, right after Jahri Evans got that huge contract coming off the Super Bowl
3) Drew's vague and bittersweet comments, about looking around the locker room and not knowing which guys will be back next year -- now remember when Drew broke the record, Nicks was the one who gave him a big bear hug and picked him up in the air
4) Nicks led the Who Dat Chant at the Lions playoff game
5) then there was that whole weird thing at the beginning of last year, August of 2010, where he got temporarily demoted to second string in training camp. Something was up with that, or maybe it was just nothing. Who knows. But I felt like it could been either Super Bowl hangover, or maybe that his frustration at Jahri getting that huge deal and not him, was reflected in his attitude during practice, the first week back, so the coaches sat him

But these things, especially #4, which assuming at that time, we were gonna go up to Green Bay, they knew it could be his last home game as a Saint, makes me wonder. We'll see, though.

He should not. While Brees' first contract with the Saints was a shared gamble, based on 6 years of production it was greatly undervalued. Brees' money should be, and must be in the low $20 million range. It's pay that matches his standing as hte premiere QB in the game. The only way it should be under $20 a year is if the total contract exceeds $120 million.

Bottom line the Saints will need to make some choices. As painful as it will be, the team probably cannot and will not pay Colston what he's worth. Colston has already given the team the hometown discount on his 2nd contract, and there's probably not going to be a 4th contract for him. So he also needs to secure his $12-15 million/year contract this time. But for those dollars it won't be with the Saints. The receiver corps will just have to have the next man step up.

Nicks needs to be resigned at all costs, even if that means matching Evans' contract.

It's going to be a tough offseason. I'm just hoping that it doesn't get so tough that Loomis feels obligated to franchise Brees in order to get his costs down. While it may be good for the bottom line, it'll be terrible for morale.

SFIAH

I wish there were salary arbitration in the NFL. This would be a great offesason for it.

I love a good conspiracy theory.

After watching the two Championship games last weekend, I think Nicks should be our #2 priority after Brees.

Did you see what the SF defense did to Eli? Holy Crap.

I know our Offensive Line wasn't exactly impregnable against the Niners but I definitely don't think Drew took the beating Eli did.

I love Colston, but keeping Drew healthy in the last 5 or so (hopefully many more) years of his career has to be our priority, IMHO; and keeping him off the turf would really help in that effort.

I can say without reservation that Carl Nicks is our 2nd best player on this team and he helps make Brees the superstar he is.

I hope we don't think just because we did well picking Evans and Nicks that it'll be easy to find a stud guard in the draft.

With Drew, the interior O-line is more important than the exterior. I have no problem with us paying our OG's like most teams pay their OT's.

I think Nicks/Evans are also why De La Puente had as much success as he did.

I feel it will be more difficult to replace Nicks than any other player on this team not named Brees.

HE MUST BE RESIGNED!!!

You get my vote!

the only think drew can do is pull a Manning and get Benson to pay the bulk as bounce money and minimize the cap hit.

Then sign one of the two Nicks Or colston and tag the leftover and resign them the following year long term

Kovacs>>>> +1,000,000

SHIAH,

Great to see you back here.