My "dead weight" list
 

We hear about all the "potential" this team has. But, really, a lot of this potential has been here for a WHILE and never really has done anything...

As far as I'm concerned, all of these players are on the "choping block."

I'm not saying I would cut ALL of them. Just saying they wouldn't be safe on my team if I were the coach.

33 Ambrose, Ashley
20 Bellamy, Jay S 5-11 200 32 12 Rutgers
4 Bouman, Todd QB 6-2 226 32 8 St. Cloud State
85 Conwell, Ernie TE 6-2 255 32 10 Washington
71 Folau, Spencer T 6-5 310 31 9 Idaho
72 Gandy, Wayne T 6-4 315 34 12 Auburn
88 Gardner, Talman WR 6-1 210 24 3 Florida State
37 Gleason, Steve S 5-11 212 27 5 Washington State
58 Grant, Cie LB 6-0 235 25 3 Ohio State
89 Hall, Lamont TE 6-4 260 30 6 Clemson
64 Jacox, Kendyl C 6-2 325 29 8 Kansas State
53 Knight, Roger LB 6-0 245 26 4 Wisconsin
25 McAfee, Fred RB 5-10 193 36 14 Mississippi College
40 Mitchell, Mel S 6-1 222 25 4 Western Kentucky
24 Montgomery, Monty DB 6-0 195 31 6 Houston
67 Nesbit, Jamar G 6-4 328 28 7 South Carolina
68 Riley, Victor T 6-5 340 30 8 Auburn
59 Rodgers, Derrick LB 6-0 230 33 9 Arizona State
56 Ruff, Orlando LB 6-3 253 28 7 Furman
63 Setterstrom, Chad G 6-3 310 24 1 Northern Iowa
90 Smith, Kenny DL 6-4 303 27 5 Alabama
78 Stinchcomb, Jon T 6-5 315 25 3 Georgia
97 Sullivan, Johnathan DT 6-3 315 24 3 Georgia
22 Thomas, Fred CB 5-9 185 31 10 Tennessee-Martin
82 Williams, Boo TE 6-4 265 25 5 Arkansas
66 Young, Brian DT 6-2 298 27 6 Texas-El Paso


If you see any players on that list that you don't agree with... let me know.

Got any comments? Let us know!!

My "dead weight" list
 

I disagree on:

85 Conwell, Ernie TE -good enough/great leader
88 Gardner, Talman WR -hasn\'t been here all that long really
89 Hall, Lamont TE -does great for what he is asked to do
64 Jacox, Kendyl C -has been starting at guard right?
40 Mitchell, Mel S -was going to be a starter/should have been this year.
63 Setterstrom, Chad G -he\'s been here 1 year and you\'re giving up already?
78 Stinchcomb, Jon T -hasn\'t been given opportunity. No way he ever plays LT and staff should figure that out and put him at RT. This isn\'t his fault.
66 Young, Brian DT -I don\'t have any complaints about Young that Sullivan or any other DT couldn\'t allieviate by playing well at the other DT spot.

Some others are good enough to keep, but could be shown the door too:
Bellamy, Grant, Falou

Lastly, I\'m ticked at Sullivan and have called for his head...mostly because I know my vote doesn\'t count. We have paid a lot for this guy pick-wise and financially and a clear headed, unemotional personnel guy probably would still look at trying to turn him around. If he gets any worse, I say work him as hard as possible during camp and make him quit. If he wont quit then, just cut him.

My "dead weight" list
 

I thought then and i think now-the trade up to get sullivan is one of the worst decisions made by a saints GM...

We could have had sullivan lower and one more player or two decent players in that draft.

My "dead weight" list
 

I\'m with Scotty.

My "dead weight" list
 

I\'d keep this group.

20 Bellamy, Jay S 5-11 200 32 12 Rutgers
85 Conwell, Ernie TE 6-2 255 32 10 Washington
71 Folau, Spencer T 6-5 310 31 9 Idaho
88 Gardner, Talman WR 6-1 210 24 3 Florida State
37 Gleason, Steve S 5-11 212 27 5 Washington State
89 Hall, Lamont TE 6-4 260 30 6 Clemson
64 Jacox, Kendyl C 6-2 325 29 8 Kansas State
25 McAfee, Fred RB 5-10 193 36 14 Mississippi College
40 Mitchell, Mel S 6-1 222 25 4 Western Kentucky
24 Montgomery, Monty DB 6-0 195 31 6 Houston
67 Nesbit, Jamar G 6-4 328 28 7 South Carolina
63 Setterstrom, Chad G 6-3 310 24 1 Northern Iowa
90 Smith, Kenny DL 6-4 303 27 5 Alabama
78 Stinchcomb, Jon T 6-5 315 25 3 Georgia
97 Sullivan, Johnathan DT 6-3 315 24 3 Georgia
22 Thomas, Fred CB 5-9 185 31 10 Tennessee-Martin
82 Williams, Boo TE 6-4 265 25 5 Arkansas
66 Young, Brian DT 6-2 298 27 6 Texas-El Paso

The others that need to GO are:

1. Brooks
2. Hodge
3. Carney

There are things that need to change on the O-line:

1. Move Jacox back to Center
2. Put Stichcomb at L Guard
3. Put Bentley at R Guard
4. Pick up a decent FA R Tackle
5. Draft a STUD L Tackle
6. Use Bellamy and McAfee as player coaches
7. Draft a kicker
8. Kick Sullivan in the tail and make him play.
9. Bring in a young FA QB. Carr or Rattay
10. If getting a young FA QB is not possible, then get an older QB and draft a promising young talent (Preferably with brains).

While it seems that some of these people are underachieving, you have to remember that folks like Gleason, Mitchell, Montgomery, Gardner, Setterstrom, and others ALSO play on Al Everest\'s special teams. Gleason is kept here because of his ability to hit on punts and kickoffs same with Mitchell. McAfee is a coach on the field for ST\'s and the play with him in is greatly improved than without him.

Ambrose, has heart and smarts, but he\'s past the time because he is very slow. Sadly. If Leon had half the heart of Ashley, he\'d be all pro before the season.

My "dead weight" list
 

Hodge wasn\'t on the list so I forgot about him. I\'d say of all the LBs keep Watson, of course, and maybe Hodge and Grant. If we bring in quality LBs Hodge may not get to sart but i feel he\'d be a solid backup. Grant only gets one more year, imo, to prove he can stay healthy. When he doesn\'t prove that, then bye-bye.

I also didn\'t mean that anybody that is a special teams star should be cut, like Gleason. Iwas just thinking in terms of the REAL ;) roster.

My "dead weight" list
 

Move Jacox back to Center
2. Put Stichcomb at L Guard
3. Put Bentley at R Guard
4. Pick up a decent FA R Tackle
5. Draft a STUD L Tackle
6. Use Bellamy and McAfee as player coaches
7. Draft a kicker--(nugent)
8. Kick Sullivan in the tail and make him play. (this is supposed to be happening)
9. Bring in a young FA QB. Carr or Rattay (i don\'t htink we can get carr....but rattay or volik we might can)
10. If getting a young FA QB is not possible, then get an older QB and draft a promising young talent (Preferably with brains). (what do ya\'ll think of bledsoe, or hasselback)

My "dead weight" list
 

Hesselbeck I could see bringing in. Bledsoe is a tougher question. it seems like he\'s lost something. but then again, maybe playing indoors would help him a bit. Problem is the o-line still sucks and neither of these guys are very nimble.

My "dead weight" list
 

I tried to list all of the players who I felt were not safe.

Some are debateable...

But, I\'m more interested in the \'starters\'. Or players who were suppose to be starters.

1. Sullivan -- We gave up a 1st round pick to move up and select him. So far..he\'s been a bust. I applauded the move at the time of the draft. It was a huge need and Sullivan was considered to be the 1st or 2nd best DT avaliable, according to which source you check.

Can\'t give up on the kid right now, but, the bottom line is this has really set the defense back for the past couple of years. Just imagine if Sully would have worked out already, OR, we spent our two #1 draft picks on other playhers.

This really hurt!!!

2. Ernie Conwell: This guy has had enough time to produce results. For one reason or another...he hasn\'t. We\'re not trying to groom a rookie QB here. This guy was a veteran when he came here. Considering he came from the Rams. Maybe he was a product of the system?

Bottom Line: When? How long does he get? Good character guy, but we can find good character guys on the street.

3. Wayne Gandy: Stick a fork in him.....he\'s done!!

4. Victor Riley: He\'s gotta go.

5. Fred Thomas: Lot of money for a nickle CB. I think he could be a solid number 3 but not much else. He might surprise me though. I haven\'t counted him out just yet.

6. Boo Williams: Hard to say. He gets next year to prove himself or we gotta go a different direction, IMO.

7. Derrick Rodgers: Average. We need a bigger impact our of our starting LB. Good back-up.

8. Jay Bellamy: Better suited as a backup. Still makes some plays. But gives some up too. Retirement isn\'t far away...

9. Mel Mitchell: Hard to say. Showed promise. I\'d give the kid one more year. But that\'s it.

10. Brian Young: I\'m keeping my eye on him. I don\'t like the smaller DTs. He could work out though. But you really have to wonder if he can hold up in the middle of the D.

There\'s more, but that\'s enough for now... ;)

My "dead weight" list
 

Conwell: Sure, he\'s dropped passes, and his production hasn\'t been that great. i\'m really not sure how good of a blocker he is, but some guys are just worth keeping around.

It\'s like McAffee. He came in a gave a boost to the ST immediately.

He\'s worth keeping around.

Thomas just resigned last year to be a #1 CB. No way he\'s worth that now. If he doesn\'t take a pay cut, then he\'ll take cut of another nature.

Boo Williams is a mess. He makes good catches and drops others, and he acts like a crazy man after catching 2 yard pass that didn\'t even get a 1st down. He doesn\'t get any separation from supposedly slower LBs so he\'s always getting tackled immediately. I get the feeling that he\'s a \"me first\" player which we don\'t need. If Hilton can\'t do this much, then cut them both and get somebody new.

My "dead weight" list
 

In response to your reasoning, I\'m going to go by the numbers that you have in your response.

1. Sullivan. I agree. He needs to mature, and he needs a boot in the backside. If Pease can motivate him, we have a winner. If not, hit the trail.

2. Conwell. I disagree. He\'s a team player, a good blocker, and given someone who can throw \"touch\" passes he can catch. The problem with his pass production is Leon, not Ernie.

3.&4. I couldn\'t agree more. You are 100% on the money.

5. Freddie got way, way too much money for his production. I agree he\'s too expensive as a nickle back, especially with Montgomery who is younger and cheaper breathing down his back.

6. I think that Boo can be better with someone other than Leon throwing the ball. If you get a QB with an IQ higher than 12 running the team Boo\'s numbers will go up. He also has greatly progressed as a blocker.

7. A back up and that\'s all. Rodgers has heart, but his body is slowing down. Also, at 34-35 he very well be injury prone.

8. Bellamy, same as Rodgers. Great heart, old body.

9. Mel Mitchell. Mel has been healing from his knee injury and has done well on special teams. Characteristically it takes at LEAST a year to come back from that type of injury. Look for him to beat out Bellamy next year. Pray that he doesn\'t get hit in the knee again.

10. Brian Young. Great motor, great heart. I agree with you that his size is suspect, but when we got him it was assumed that Sully was gonna step up and be a man. With Sully being the Stud on the inside, Young gets freed up to make some tackles that he ordinarily wouldn\'t make. You saw the same thing with LeRoi Glover and Norman Hand. Hand took the heat and Glover made the plays. Assuming that Sullivan steps up, Young will be more of an impact player. BUT Sullivan needs to step up. Otherwise you are right, Young is small and vunerable.

Good analysis, Billy.

:D

My "dead weight" list
 

He will beat out Bellamy... mark my words. Gave up 2 picks for Sullivan and invested a nice chunk of change in him too. Can\'t give up on him yet, talent is there it\'s just that he eats too much. And a lazy *****.

I also feel Conwell was a product of the Rams run and gun offense. Jacox excelled at guard and he never did play center for us, so why move him \"back\"? Bentley was drafted as a center, but the wanted Fontenot to play center. So he didnt do so well last year, but he\'ll be fine. That\'s his natural position. A healthy Jacox, Bentley, and Holland will give us a monster guard center combo. We just need a LT and see if Stincomb can handle RT. We need to let these kids play and see what they can do. No point in drafting players and letting them ride the pine.

Fred Thomas had a bad year, cut the guy some slack. He\'s been solid for us and remember he would be starting for Philly right now if he chose to sign that contract. He\'s loyal and just needs to rebound from 1 bad year. He\'ll be fine.

Lol gatorman but if you add Haslett, dont forget about Venturi and Loomis. :P