We got Bunkley!!!
 

According to Schefter.

Bolsetering the D.

God I hope we shove it down Goodell's throat...

any news on the contract terms?

Here's the tweet:

Broedrick Bunkley to Saints: 5 yrs, $25m with $9m fully grntd.

Saints signed DT Brodrick Bunkley to a five-year, $25 million contract with $9 million guaranteed.

With GM Mickey Loomis' suspension not yet implemented, it's business as usual in the Saints' front office as the team stays the course amid bounty scandal discipline. The Broncos were making a "hard" push to re-sign Bunkley as of Tuesday, but the Saints apparently beat Denver's offer. Bunkley has only six sacks in six seasons, but he is an effective one-gap, 4-3 nose tackle. He projects as an upgrade on outgoing Shaun Rogers and Aubrayo Franklin.

Source: Adam Schefter on Twitter

BOOM

You will have to excuse me if I don't wet my pants with excitement!

Loomis doing work regardless. With our losses, Loomis is making sure he prepares us for the season. Didn't think we were actually going to sign him. I wouldn't be surprised if we made another big move.

I wonder what our cap space looks like now, if Goodell didn't take that too... :rolleyes:

Bunkly is just coming into his own. He's one of the "Up and Coming" players the Saints like to sign just as they start to shine. Not to mention he's playing better than Ellis has in his career.

Drew perhaps?

Ellis who?
I hope this guys lights a fire under Ellis.
Ellis should be looking for paper at the end of this season.
He may have his own fire already started, at least I hope so.

Curtis Lofton??? Drew's not going anywhere. He's such a great leader, but where is he when his team and his fans need him. He was never accepted in SD, but he was welcomed with open minds and arms here in the NO but this is what we get?? Sign Lofton and let Brees sit if he wants then franchise his arse again next year. He won't have many good years left after that anyway, but maybe good for a trade for us. Sorry, but I'm just tired of his "I'm the good guy BS".

look for a middle linebacker next to take vilmas place looks like league will crucifiy .him.i still feel ok . loomis will take care of bussiness and get brees signed plus the other parts we need before his suspension. then spags and carmike can take it and run with it and throw it in godell face by winning a superbowl

I'm happy that they were able to sign Bunkley and the $5M/yr cap hit isn't as bad as it could've been with the Broncos also trying to get him re-signed.

I believe Spags will be able to get more production out of him than the Saints got out of both Franklin and Rogers last season combined.

At least we now have one D player that can play this coming year.

10 more to go.

The next big deal will be Drew's contract.

Also, this from Jeff Duncan:

Some good news for WhoDats. RT @Chambo57: Shocked by the harsh punishments but pumped for my visit to New Orleans tomorrow with the Saints!!

So much for Mark Schlereth and his "guys won't want to play there." Well, hopefully, anyway. >>Knocks Wood<<

Key signings remaining...
Drew Brees (Obviously)

MLB (especially if Vilma is suspended for the year).
Lofton is choice #1, then resign Jo-Lonn on the cheap.

OLB-I like that Henderson kid.

The rest we can sign a bunch of J.A.G.'s as role players cheaply.

If Vilma is suspended without pay,does that open up more cap room for us?

I'd assume we would release him to save cap space if his suspension was longer than just a few games.

Good move!

The answer to your question is yes, but only the base salary of a suspended player does not count towards the cap.

That means that all other bonuses of a suspended player will still count towards the overall salary cap, like signing and roster bonuses.

In Vilma's case it would mean that the $5.4M base salary would come of the books (more than what the Saints would free up if they cut Vilma), but the $1.2M annual signing bonus cap hit would still count towards the cap.

So, if Vilma is not 100% healthy, it would actually be financially better for the Saints if he was suspended for the entire season.

Great break down, FinSaint. SUSPEND HIM! Bring in Lofton. I guess I can give up on Woodyard now.

Thanks, and Woodyard already re-signed with the Broncos few days ago - sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :-(

I sure hope so. I was one who wanted him to get drafted and have supported him until this last year when he had the talent next to him that should have let him shine and he disappeared again. I'm ready to move on.

I didn't really want to draft him, I wanted Keith Rivers, but I have supported him and wasn't really disappointed until last season.

Well, that's something.

we need an announcement of that sort.

I like the signing.

Ellis is a solid role player. He's just not the star we hoped he would be and he is absolutely overpaid. What worries me about Bunkley is he had alot of talent around him. But, for the price and need at the position, he was the best available.

If the Saints decide to keep Ellis and if he doesn't get suspended because of the Bountygate - I expect to see an elevated effort from him this coming season and hopefully we'll be able to see him meet at least some of the expectations most of us have had for him.

If he (once again) fails to make an impact this coming season, he'll be gone the next off-season and the Saints will still have Bunkley as a veteran DT with hopefully some young developing DTs.

And I should of course mention my favorite, #96 Tom Johnson, who I believe will have a breakout year this coming season having 1 year in the NFL under his belt. His progression was somewhat hampered by the hamstring injury he received in the 2nd quarter of the first pre-season game last season. After missing some games because of the said injury, he never came back as explosive as he looked in that small sample from the pre-season. So, if he is able to stay healthy, absorb all that he can from Spags, and transfer all of that to the field - he could be a monster next season.

I hope the Saints are able to pick up a rookie DT in the 3rd round, and Derek Wolfe is still my personal favorite because of his skill-set and size - best of all he could still be available when the Saints pick.