BakoSaint

My apologies to Saints Report Forum. A couple years ago I was banned for among other things saying Alex Analzone was too injury prone and would never develop, we traded too much for Davenport and should stop trading away future picks, and that Matt Ryan is no good and not an amazing worthy rival who just has bad luck in the playoffs. I argued that time would catch up to Drew Brees and it would be hard to bounce back from the Minneapolis Miracle and No Call and that we should rebuild and consider trading Lattimore, Thomas, and Kamara for a stockpile of draft picks to get the next QB eventually rather than paying them big contracts. I said we should stop trading away future draft picks in ways that don't make sense such as making a win-now move in trading up for Davenport but then picking a guy like Davenport who was a raw prospect and would take years to see full result (win now but don't?), and we should begin cleaning up our salary cap and play the long game with stockpiled picks, taking advantage of compensatory picks, and selling high on impending free agents like the Patriots have.

I was so wrong. Analzone and Davenport have been amazing. Matt Ryan has since proved all the doubters wrong, all he needed was three 1st round pick WRs to continue bouncing between losing seasons and early playoff exits while maintaining good stats when it doesnt count, he was never part of the problem in Atlanta. We are so lucky to have Lattimore and his stolen gun, and Michael Thomas with his internal disagreements and injury issues at a top salary. Kamara has been solid, and if history tells us anything from the 1990's Lions, its that championships are built on evasive sideline to sideline running backs who seem about 10-20% more productive than their dirt cheap veteran backup. We had to push $85 million in salary cap to future years. My only regret is that we didn't secure a blockbuster long term deal with Lattimore as many suggested. Drew Brees obviously had a lot left in the tank, and although he has decided to retire early for purely personal reasons, there aren't a lot of good QBs available in this draft anyway and no good free agents available at a discount so it wouldn't have been good timing to have a stockpile of draft picks or a cleaner salary cap.

The important thing for a franchise to win is that all their fans have the same opinions and that anyone with different opinions is shunned as a non-fan. So I am sorry Saints Report. You were right. By avoiding any kind of rebuilding and not trading any of our young stars before they hit free agency, we are truly locked and loaded for the future.