Why this draft may work.
 

I see a lot of people complaining about this draft and I might just be saying this for proof if Im lucky enough to be right. When looking at Will Smith, I see a Strong quick DE with experience at ILB. It is also rumored that the saints are looking hard into Jeremiah Trotter From the Redskins. So what if the Saints picked the best player in the draft with no intentions of playing him at DE? Lets see: if the saints take Derrick Rogers Jeremiah Trotter and Will Smith and implement them into the 4-3 I think this could be a fantastic bolstered defense(exception:dB's). Picking Devry Henderson is only a bad move if the front office knows nothing more than we do. But I think that is not the case. There is a reason there is a lot of hush hush about the draft with the saints. This has to be(hopefully) because they are expecting big changes. So I'm just thinking to myself that maybe I should hold judgement until I see what is behind the curtain. ;)

[Edited on 24/4/2004 by Swamp_Donkey]

Why this draft may work.
 

I brought this up in the chat without believing in it myself. That might have been the idea (I compared him to Terrell Suggs, someone else did on this board too), but it won\'t work. You can
a) Play him as an OLB in obvious passing downs to rush the passer (the way Suggs is used). He would then be a luxury pick, something you shouldn\'t use with so many holes on defense.
b) Leave him at DE and have him as a backup of Howard. Even worse.
c) Play him at ILB, or rather MLB. A MLB REALLY needs experience at the position IMHO. Not a good fit.
d) Play him at OLB as an every down player. He simply does not have the speed to do that.

Maybe Haslett can shed some light on how he intends to use him (other than a negotiating tool). Right now I don\'t see how this will work out.

Why this draft may work.
 

Will Smith ran a 4.58 in the 40. I would say that is fast enough to play linebacker for us...Vilma and Williams ran a 4.55

Why this draft may work.
 

1st off I dont think they handled the 1st day very well! I do think that we are gonna trade for a stud a CB now. I dont think Trotter is a issue any more or he would have been involved inthe trade with our 3rd, and I dont see why we would draft a MLB. Smith is about 2inches taller than D.J. Williams, about 18 lbs heavier, and about .08 seconds slower, so I do think he could play LB. But I think they are gonna trade Howard for Woodson. If they do that it would change the way I am thinking about this draft.

Why this draft may work.
 

Does anyone else here see the Saints switching to a 3-4 this coming season? Please tell me I\'m not the only one.

Why this draft may work.
 

I want to believe this draft is going to work. And, it may well work. IN THE FUTURE!!

But, it\'s always the future for our Saints. Unfortunatly we are in the PRESENT and presently we are WEAK at LINEBACKER. I do not believe Will Smith will play at linebacker. Even if he did, I have no faith that he\'s going to excel at a position he has no experience at, in a leage he has no experience in, with a coaching staff that has trouble getting players to play up to their potential.

Haslett says you can never have enough D-linemen. Well, apparently you can never have enough wide receivers either. Considering we were stacked in that area. Just like we were on the O-line last year.

And, apparantly, linebackers aren\'t really valued in the Saints defense. Oh, we bring in different ones every year, but the results stay the same.

I\'ll grade this years draft as a \'C\' with the potential to be an \'A\' in the FUTURE!!!!!!

Hopefully that future doesn\'t include me sitting through another draft with this bunch of clowns running the show!!



[Edited on 25/4/2004 by SaintsReporter]

Why this draft may work.
 

Will Smith ran a 4.58 in the 40. I would say that is fast enough to play linebacker for us...Vilma and Williams ran a 4.55

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner.

Why this draft may work.
 

But, it\'s always the future for our Saints. Unfortunatly we are in the PRESENT and presently we are WEAK at LINEBACKER.

So, SaintsReporter, which linebacker would you have drafted? Vilma and Williams were off the board. The next LB picked wasn\'t taken until the second round. Smith was a high value pick that fell into the Saints\' lap and I can\'t blame them for taking him. Although I suppose they could have drafted a second round linebacker at 18th overall. [/sarcasm off].

Why this draft may work.
 

The Saints should and could have moved up in the draft. Or, taken Gamble at conerback. I\'m sure most of you are trying to make yourself feel better about the draft. I\'ve tried, it didn\'t work. Reality set in..........Once again.

Ya see..........I wouldn\'t have minded picking up the players we got. Hell, I even like \'em. Just one small problem though. We did not address KEY areans of NEED in free agency like linebacker and cornerback. Hold on though, it gets worse. We\'ve been hurthing at linebacker and corner for YEARS. Is moving up in the draft to fix a problem area that we\'ve had for years asking too much? Is being aggressive in free agency asking too much?

I want to be wrong. But, I ain\'t buying into it this year. NOPE. Not me!!

Why this draft may work.
 

Billy,

I feel partly responsible for this pessimism that seems to have beset you, so I will say this: don\'t you smell a trade coming? We are stacked at DE and at WR; these are tradeable positions. We also now have an extra second rounder for next year (though I\'m still not sure why we didn\'t pick up Poole).

This draft is a C+ so far. We got an additional pick for next year, a stud DE (who may be converted to a LB, though I very much doubt it), a solid MLB, and a WR who, by all accounts, is pretty good. I think that M. Lewis is out, and given his performace last year, I say good riddance, so Henderson is in.

I think we\'re about to make a play for a good corner, bargaining either one of our proven DEs or WRs. Perhaps we can avoid serious cost by sending someone like Pathon and our additional 2nd round pick for a good corner?

Why this draft may work.
 

PS - Gamble would probably not have been able to help us this season anyway (with a need to still grow in experience at the position), so we may as well wait until next draft to get our stud corner than take him (with our extra 2nd round pick, we may be able to finally get the corner we need). While, I don\'t like waiting, this isn\'t the worst thing that could happen - one more year?

Why this draft may work.
 

Moving up would have cost us a great deal... and you can say moving up would have been the thing to do but that is a great idea in hindsight. You just have to sit and watch the draft develop sometimes and make your pick on what is best available. We got great value with the pick that can\'t be argued. What they plan to do with him or the D remains to be seen. I like moving some players around and changing our D to a 3-4... I also like having bodies to enter-change so our D won\'t tire so easily.

I don\'t think trading his rights is the thing to do either. I think he has way to much value and potential to be trade for Trotter.

[Edited on 25/4/2004 by Euphoria]

Why this draft may work.
 

JKool --

I really don\'t feel like we will make a trade. We\'ve had all off-season to make plenty of trades. While we did pick up a few players, we saw the marquee players go to other teams. The sad thing is that we are probably only one or two players away from being a TRUE super bowl contender. What\'s more troubling is it\'s been that way for the last 2 years.

Why is it that other teams can sign the big free agents and we can\'t? We\'ve got the cap space. We\'ve got the need. Yet, we go out and spend big money on guys like Wayne Gandy and Dale Carter.

See we can sit here and debate the finer point to ever player picked up or let go, but there\'s a pattern with this administration and it paints a lousy picture. One that I was in denial about for a while.

Let\'s look at the facts:

1. Offensive line: Haslett had a solid offensive line when he got here. But, this has been an area that has been rebulit and received way too much attention, IMO. Gone are Kyle Turley and Willie Roaf. We overpaid Wayne Gandy, who, while serviceable, is not a top left tackle. We also spent a 2nd round pick last year in the draft, when we needed and still need linebackers and cornerbacks.

2. Tight end: Signed David Sloan and Ernie Conwell. No production out of either one. Meanwhile we had Boo Williams the entire time and looks like he might be the anwser.

3. Linebacker: Signed Orlando Ruff, Darrin Smith, Derrik Rodgers, and Rodger Knight. All of those are BIG PROJECTS. We don\'t need projects at linebackers. This is a team that is probably only a linebacker and corner away from the superbowl and we need difference makers there.

Anyway, there\'s more to this patten for Haslett and co. Most of you are well aware of the facts. So, while everyone is trying to figure out why this draft went like it did and you\'re trying to make some sense of it. Just look at the past history of this organization and you\'ll see not too much makes sense.

Why this draft may work.
 

I don\'t understand the suggestion to go to a 3-4. Such a decision would make Sully look like a bad pick - he\'s not a NT. Furthermore, LB is our weakest position; why would we put another one of these guys on the field.

If they are converting Smith to OLB, then we have Rogers (whom I don\'t think is a project - he has experience and has been successful in Miami), Smith, and Watson. IF the two new kids turn out to be good (i.e. better than Grant, Ruff, and Hodge - which shouldn\'t be too hard), then we\'re good in the 4-3 (with a pair of stud ends and two solid DTs).

Billy, I guess I was frustrated yesterday, but I\'m still not seeing this draft as that bad yet. I think we\'ve addressed the LB need (with Vilma and DJ gone, what were we going to do); we have at least one new LB, we have a bunch of 2-3 year guys, who have some potential left (Allen and Grant), and some serviceable players (D. Smith and Ruff). If W Smith turns out to be a Suggs, we\'re set. Thus, I think the only glaring problem is still at CB. I haven\'t yet been convinced that there isn\'t a trade coming - I\'m leaning toward WR as the key to the trade now.

My guess as to why we can\'t sign the big FAs is this: we are too far away from having a SB contender - thus, players who are looking to the later years of their careers won\'t be as interested if there is a similar offer elsewhere. Also, we just don\'t have a \"winning record\", and I\'m not talking about Haz - when these players were growing up, they never fantasized about playing for our boys in the black and gold; thus, there is psychological motivation to play elsewhere. Finally, I hate our FO; I believe they\'re obsessed with finding diamonds in the rough (at least over the last few years), rather than taking the obvious \"blue chip\".

The story isn\'t over yet though; just a hunch.