saints in the lead for brees?
 

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/features/rumors

not bad if we are looking to take a qb also in the draft. that is the rumor anyway

RE: saints in the lead for brees?
 

I don't know but I am not buying this at this point... for one it would be in violation of tampering rules. Two I think NO would be better suited to using the picks in a great draft year than to give up picks for a player with a question mark. They aren't happy with him here in San Diego... I just don't see this holding much water...

RE: saints in the lead for brees?
 

You say that San Diego fans are not happy with him, but where's the proof?

RE: saints in the lead for brees?
 

Euphoria,
why do you think we will have to give up picks for Brees? He is an UFA, and SD did not tag him the last I saw. SO we could sign Brees for money only, trade down to get more picks, grab so LB and LT in the first round and an extra pick in 2 and 3 and we are rolling.

RE: saints in the lead for brees?
 

I love it! With the QB problem solved it frees up a lot of options in the draft... we could possibly get A.J. Hawk if this happens with a little trading back to pick up even more picks! Getting interesting!

RE: saints in the lead for brees?
 

Trade back twice to get two second rounders. Heck, we could trade back far enough to justify picking Mangold, then pick a linebacker, corner, and running back in round two.

Wait wait wait, when I proposed taking a shot at Brees WEEKS ago where was all this back-up? Now that we are front runners the chatter is up? lol

Yeah, its not a bad move...more things we can do with our picks...

No thank you to Brees. No one knows how he is going to respond after his injury and we have the 2nd pick in the draft with one of the best prospects in recent memory right there for the taking in Leinart. I'm not totally sold on Brees being successful without a target like Gates to throw to. He's better than anyone we have now, but I'd be happier drafting Leinart and builing our franchise around him.

reports on brees is that he is recovering well and the injury was not as serious as some other throwing injuries have been to other qb's last season a la Pennington...and hey we got Hilton

i am hearing conflicting reports on brees...........
i can't remember where i read it, but i do recall he or they said the injury to brees is far more serious then being addressed.........which makes me wonder why they would get rid of him.
damaged goods? or does not fit in their plans. anyway, if brees is 100% fine, but if he's a ?, forget it...........been there , done that...........smitty

I believe it was a torn Labium (not Labia gents), however, please remember that he was not such a hot comadity until the offensive line was revamped two years ago. That Oline coach is now in Miami, and I think Miami is going to end up forking the cash over.

Uh this is GREAT NEWS if true. I just heard it on Around The Horn.

I am otherwise in favor of getting Leinart in the draft but if we can land Brees, can you say TRADE DOWN FOR D'BRICK??????? Come on this makes too much sense? We would get at the least a QB better than AB, and another STUD O-lineman. TWO BOOKEND TACKLES???? That's sick.

wow, a FA sigining by the saints that makes sense!?!?! has hell frozen over?

Let me check...

*runs to hell*

Gate Keeper: "Why are you here?"

Me: "Yeah, I was just wondering what the weather has been like lately."

GK: "Well...it has been unseasonably cold lately. In fact, it's ****ing freezing!"

Me: "Really? Hmmm. Thanks for the info."

*runs back to Earth*

Yep, it sure has.

Does anyone else feel that if Brees does sign here we're going to overpay for a guy who is going to stay around for one year then bolt out of town or we'll sign him to a multi-year deal and he's going to have the arm strength of Chad Pennington? I've seen the Saints sign and release the wrong players for too many years and this feels like another case. We don't get many opportunities to draft a guy like Leinart (Quinn's no Leinart). Draft the guy who has said he want to play for us and help us build our franchise!

Well if he were to sign it would of course be a multi year deal and I'm quite sure he'll want to play for us if we show him the money. The only question on Drew Brees is how he will return from this torn labrum. That's it. He already knows how to run an NFL offense. In addition, we could fleece the Jets for an extra second and a first next year since they want Leinart so much. We could then pick up D'Brick, recoup for the third we don't have this year and then possibly have a high draft pick next year if the Jets suck it up again. How is that not building the franchise?

Every report coming out of here in New York says the Jets want Ramsey and aren't going to trade up for Leinart. If they do not get Ramsey they would be very happy with Cutler at #4. That would leave us to trade down with Oakland at 6 if they don't get Culpepper or Detroit at 9. Who's to say that Brick or Hawk will be there? Depending on where some of the free agent qb's sign it may be tough for us to find equal value for our pick. It may be just me but I've been so excited about Leinart becoming a Saint and I think he's the perfect guy for us...
PS: John Clayton on Sportscenter said the Doliphins are still the front runner right now. Where's allsaints and deuce when you need them to balance out this thread? hahaha.

But the fact that Miami is one of two front runners for Daunte Culpepper almost assures that Brees will come here.

I mean geez yeah i want Leinart too but when you have a chance to land a proven vet and add another stud to the o-line why wouldn't you do that? Given the choice between Leinart and Brees yeah Leinart has more upside but Brees along with two bookend tackles will give us a better chance to win NOW, which is what we need to do. Ferguson would definitely help soften the blow from losing Bentley.

The Miami Herald reports that the Saints have offered Drew Brees the most amount of guaranteed money among potential suitors.

Some strong language from the Miami Herald. "From what I know right now, it's set where he's going, and it's not Miami," the paper quotes an unnamed source. Brees, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Joe Horn, Donte Stallworth, Deuce McAllister, and Jamaal Brown would make a great-looking Saints offense. Mar. 10 - 11:32 am et

I'd cream in my pants if our offense were to look like that next season. I'm not a big D'Brick fan because of what I saw from him all of last season, but he is the best left tackle in the draft so I could learn to live with it. On paper doesn't that look awesome? Definately something worth getting excited about.

I can't believe we are possibly going to make a splash in free-agency. Brees I think will be a good pick-up if the reports are true about his arm being at 100% by training camp. I also believe it says something about Brees that he beat out the guy that GM A.J. Smith personally brought in to take his job.

We should just maybe trade down once though to grab LB A.J. Hawk, pick up an extra second, pick up maybe an Antonio Cromartie and a Bobby Carpenter and the Defense would be instantly better!

I was impressed with how he stepped it up over the past couple seasons to emerge from the quarterback busts club, I think he can do the same thing with this injury... and even if he emerged after they built up the O-Line, we're in a position to do the same. Still liking it... Kinda feels like Christmas eve! It would be pretty cool to run downstairs and find a Drew Brees under the tree tomorrow!

OK, clearly I'm the only one who doesn't want Brees on our team at all. Too many question marks with this guy. San Diego had 2 good seasons with him and now are suddenly willing to let him go and start a guy who played sparingly during his first 2 seasons. Do the Chargers know something that we don't know? Has he peaked? Can you honestly say that if he didn't get injured the Chargers wouldn't have signed this guy by now? The guy has a weaker arm than Leinart and his size (6'0) scares me. He's a good qb when he's handing the ball off to LT early on and uses the good running game with play action in the passing game. But look at what he did in the 4th quarter when his team was behind, the lost soo many close games because he can't make throws without using play action. And when he did make throws it was always to Gates, he has trouble getting the ball out to WR's. The guy is going to set our franchise back if we sign him. It we sign him we can forget about signing any other free agents. All of our money will be tied up in Brees and our first round pick (we're still going to have to shell out money to a #4-#6 pick). We don't have LT or Gates for him to utilize and signing Brees would be just another horrible signing by this franchise! Has anyone ever watched a Chargers game and said "Hey, I wish he was a Saint?" The answer is NO!!! the guy is an average qb surrounded by great talent. We need a "franchise" qb and Brees is by no means a franchise qb, Matt Leinart is.

Livna....You got me convinced..
I was all happy today hearing that we could get Brees...but now....I'm gonna go with you..
DRAFT LEINART!!!!!!
there....I said it.

Amen to that! Why would we want a QB who is coming off a shoulder injury like that. I don't trust it. Not to mention he had the best RB & TE in the league to take some of the pressure off of him. He's not gonna have that here. Also don't forget our starting RB is coming off of a bad injury . Could you imagine an injury riddled season w/ both of those guys out. Not to mention this guy didn't start playing well until the Chargers lit a fire under him by drafting Rivers. He would most likely get a big deal, relax, revert back to his prior self. I don't buy it.

Thank you Chaching and 26. We pass on Leinart and it will be the biggest mistake this franchise has EVER made. That's saying alot considering all the mistakes we have made in our past. 26 makes a good point about Brees not peforming until the Chargers "lit a fire under him" by drafting Rivers with the #4 pick. Also, he didnt start succeeding until some guy named Antonio Gates was drafted! We sign Brees I'm telling you, 2-3 years down the road we will be kicking ourselves for passing on the next Tom Brady/ Joe Montana.

The Chargers are essentially choosing Phillip Rivers (a guy who has played one game in his NFL career) over Drew Brees (a guy who had 2 successful seasons with them and worked well in their offense) and draft picks (that they would have recieved by trading Rivers). This is a HUGE red flag for me. Something just doesn't seem right about this situation...

Umm... me? I've watched plenty of Chargers game the last couple of season and those are definately words I've said. He's such an average quarterback that he was selected to the ProBowl the other year.

You know he has a weaker arm because....? I saw him launch a 45+ yard bomb on the Jets last season to McCardell in stride in the rain last year (at least I think it was the Jets). His 6'0 hasn't hurt his performance the last couple of years... he's been outstanding. Guys like Jeff Garcia has had lots of success being short... and I hardly consider 6'0 short. Wow he's an inch or two shorter than Jake Plummer, Delhomme, Joe Montana, Steve Young, etc... big deal, that's such a cop out.

What quarterback in this league isn't better with an effective running game? Isn't that what you're suppose to do in this league? Run the ball to set up the pass. Hey did you happen to catch the Steelers and Colts game at the end of the year? Do you remember how garbage Peyton looked when they had to abandon the run and throw only the second half of that game? Does that make him a garbage quarterback also?

For your information, Antonio Gates was an undrafted rookie free agent.

Let ask you something... what kind of trade value do you think Rivers has? Probably nothing to high right? I mean judging by the performances he's had the past two seasons, I'm sure teams are lining up with their first round pick to get the guy. There is also something called money and saving face. If you were the GM would selected Rivers with a top 5 pick to be the future of that franchise, don't you think there's a little pressure after two years of not making it deep into the playoffs and missing it completely, to finally play him? And, why would you want two quarterbacks on your team that's being paid 7 plus million dollars? So, I don't see anything strange about this situation especially since Brees is coming of an injury... makes perfect sense to me.

Do I still want Leinart? Without a doubt. Would Brees look nice for a year or two? Frickin' right. Give Brees a nice 1 or 2 year deal at Brooks salary (well an incentive based deal would probably be better but why would he go for that) and we're right back in it.

Papz, I didn't realize Gates wasn't drafted, but it doesn't matter either way, his numbers went way up when they signed him. I never said the Chargers should keep both qbs, I said that it makes no sense to keep Rivers and let Brees go, I think that is a red flag. But then again, any average qb can float passes up to Gates and hand the ball off to LT, might as well make it a young guy who'll be able to do it for many years. I don't see Brees signing a 1-2 year deal. If we sign this guy we're making him our future qb and I think he has peaked. Leinart has more upside and I'd much rather see us use our free agent money towards Witherspoon, a qb like Kitna and OL. One other question, if we sign Brees who do you want us to draft if we're only signing Brees to a 1-2 year deal? Leinart and have the same situation they had in SD? Or a LB/OL and be without a qb 2 years down the road when we'll have a better chance at making a run in the playoffs? Any other year, Brees would seem very interesting, but why now? Why when we have the chance to draft one fo the best qb prospects in recent memory? The FO has made too many mistakes that have set our franchise back, passing on Leinart will be their biggest.

We'll hell... San Diego might as well cut both qb's and put Tommy Maddox back there and they'll do just fine him right? You don't think Brees had anything to do with Gates being successful?

There are plenty of options in the draft if we do decide to sign Brees. There is more than just one pressing need on this team. Pick a name and position out of a hat for all I care. We need a LT, LB, young corner, a DT... you name it we need it.

I absolutely love Leinart... I'm a USC junkie. But, I'm tired of losing and I'd like to see us win now. Realistically with drafting a rookie qb, we're not going to become instant contenders. After the 5 6 years, however long our drought of missing the playoffs has been, I'd like to see some wins around here. If signing Brees will get us closer to the playoffs and Leinart having to wait in the wings, I'm all for it. Carson Palmer had to pay his dues while Kitna was starting, I don't see why letting Leinart learn would be such a bad idea... if we decided to go in that direction of course which once again, I'm all for.

It's like you read my mind Papz. That would make me happy...very happy...
EUPHORIC!!!!!!!!

If we have enough money to sign Brees, draft Leinart and sign free agent lbs and ol that can contribute and still be under the cap then I'm all for it. I don't think its possible, got to chose one or the other. I agree Leinart should sit and watch for a little, similar to what the Giants did with Eli. I'm not saying Brees is a bum, he is better than anyone we have right now, but I think the best path for this team is to go with Leinart as our qb and use the rest of our money to build up the D and OL with free agents.

Why only sign Brees to a short term deal? He's only 27 years old. He could play for another 8 - 10 years.

Just wanted to let you know that once we let go of Brooks, we'll have well over 20 million dollars in cap space. And, there's a rumor going around that Witherspoon is going to sign with the Rams for a 13.5 million dollar bonus... but that remains to be seen. If that does happen, Akin probably would be our next best option but I really feel he's going to re-sign with the Jags... so Derek Smith and Jamie Sharper should be next on our list... which will be even cheaper. So the way I see it, I think it's definately possible.

And wheelman... it's because I like Leinart and would like him to see him in the black and gold. So in my books, it makes sense. But like I've said earlier in this thread, if we did decide to sign Brees to a long term deal and not draft Leinart, I wouldn't be against it either.

Papz, if we can have both Leinart and Brees with enough money for free agents then count me in. Brees is better than Kitna or Collins but I want Leinart in Black and Gold... Saban and Mueller are flying out to Alabama to meet with Brees right after he meets with us. Looks like they're taking no chances and Brees is the guy they really want.

I got ya'. I would rather sign Brees to a long term deal, though. There are not many quarterbacks in this league that can complete 60% of their passes on a yearly basis.

And if Brees doesn't play well there's always next year's draft. Have any of you considered the quarterbacks that could be available then (counting Juniors)? It's a pretty impressive list if you ask me.

well... well... well... Im all for drafting leinart, and i would first want to see brees throw some passes and stuff before they ssigned him and stuff but i just dont no its a good sign and we could have alot of picks in the draft and it sounds good.......

Come over here allsaints....join the Leinart supporters who have come to their senses. :D Of course most of us here would love to have him, but we can really rack up by getting Brees if we either A. Get D'Brick or B. trade the pick for a boatload of other picks.

Plus Brees hasn't been half bad lately.

..the thing for me is the activity itself... whether they get Brees or Leinart or both, it is oh so pleasing to see this level of "freshness" in the franchise... it's a new beginning, with exciting new faces, and even more exciting prossibilities... I honestly have not felt this level of excitement for the Saints since preseason 2001...