Current Saints Roster with Analysis
 

Current Saint Roster with Analysis

WR – Horn, Stallworth, Henderson, Pool, Lyman, Moore, Thomas, Davis
TE – Cronwell, Hilton, Meire, Campbell, Lawrie
OT – Brown, Stichcomb, Gandy, Archibald
OG – Holland, Mayberry, Setterstone, Hoffmann
C – Nesbit, Goodwinn, Leford
QB – Brees, Bouman, McPherson
RB – McAllister, Bennett, Stecker, McAfee, Joseph
FB – Karney, Schurman

DE – Smith, Grant, Verdon, Bryant
DT – Young, Sullivan, Whitehead, Leslie
OLB – Fujita, Allen, Bockwaldt, Simmons, Melton, Rabe
ILB – Watson, Fincher
CB – McKenzie, F. Thomas, Craft, J. Thomas, Booker
S – Bellamy, Smith, Bullocks, Stoutmire, Gleason

K – Carney
P – Berger
LS – Houser

Possible Resigns – WR Hakim, TE Hall, OG Jacox, WR Lewis, MLB McKinnon, S Mitchell, LB Slaughter, RB Smith,

Weakest Position – Needs to be addressed in draft
OT – Gandy, old and not the answer, Brown, outstanding, Stichcomb, isn’t proven and coming off injury, Archibald, what has he done?

2th Weakest Position - Not enough quality players
CB – Mckenzie, good player, F. Thomas, older and lost his edge, Craft, too small and doesn’t tackle well. FS Smith could move to CB but that will weaken the FS position and will he be an upgrade there over FS?

3rd Weakest Position – Must stop the run
DT – Young, no penetration or run support, Sullivan, weight issues and not over powering, Whitehead, gets pushed around, Leslie, unproven

4nd Weakest Position – just one injury away average.
WR – Horn older and injury prone, Stallworth, hasn’t proven he can take over #1 spot, Henderson, hasn’t proven he can take over #2 or #3 spot, Lyman, will chop off head in bizarre shaving accident in training camp. KR Lewis, remains unsigned but not the answer and Hakim remains unsigned and injury prone.

The OG position is weak too because RFA Holland remains unsigned and Mayberry is old and injury prone which is why Philly let him go.

All of the other positions look like we have enough players to go to war with.

Looking at the above roster, we have to draft OT Ferguson… no doubt about it. DT Nagata would also make great since because we need a run stuffer that can occupy both the C and OG which will free the MLB to make plays. We need to draft a CB and sign another in FA. Finally, if Horn has another injured season, don’t look for the other guys to pick it up. We need another experienced WR in FA and no doubt we will draft one too. MLB, we need to resign McKinnon ASAP. This guy played pretty good last year.

I don’t think we will draft Hawk because he plays the OLB and we have enough on the roster. It makes more since to draft DE Williams or DT Nagata than Hawk at this current point of FA.

RE: Current Saints Roster with Analysis
 

Draft Picks - Trade down with Jets and get their 2 1st round picks.

1st #1 - OT Fergerson or DT Nagata although he has had 2 knee injuries in college in 3 years
1st #2 - OC Nick Mangold - 6'4" 290
2nd #1 - OG Robust Perry - 6'4"
Pros: A beast of a man, he dominates the interior line. Max has the ideal size and strength of an NFL offensive guard. Also, he repeatedly went up against other NFL talent level DTs playing in the SEC.
Cons: Could play more aggressively at times but has no major flaws.
Overall: The top offensive guard in this years draft. Unfortunately for Max guard is ranked as less of a priority than tackle. This is the only reason that he may slip into the top several selections of the second round.

With the exception of Nagata (who is DT beast), none of these guys have major injury questions. I hate drafting players that have injury questions because you never know how long they will last. If you draft a player high that has started 3-4 years without an injury, you will no be getting guys that bulked up too much for their bone structure to support correctly.

I noticed that you didn't have MLB as one of our weaknesses. I like McKinnon, but he's not the answer. I'd like to get Ferguson, Mangold, and then D'Qwell Jackson after we trade with the Jets.

Love to get Jackson too but I don't think he will be there. With the draft I show, I think we will get 4 future all pro OL men (including J. Brown) which will allow us to control the ball thus taking the pressure off the defense. Imaging

4 future pro OL you say? How much do you think THAT is gonna cost, and has any team been able to do that since the salary cap era started? Then, at what point do we address defense, in next year's draft? Late round picks hoping we pluck a gem? If the current NFL has shown us ANYTHING, it's you don't need the biggest, baddest O-line on the block, but you DO need a defense that can stop somebody every now and then. We should spend far more picks on D this year than anywhere else. We are decent enough on the line with the signing of Goodwin to make things happen, but we aren't going anywhere if we can't get stops when we need them.

Good post Whodi. I've actually been re-thinking the best draft day scenarios. This is another one I've come up with:

Trade down to the #5-7 spot, getting at least an additional second and third round pick.
With the first round pick, select AJ Hawk.
With the first second round pick, if he's available, select Mangold. If he's not there, take one of the highly rated CBs left, maybe Cromartie.
WIth the other second round pick, take D'Qwell Jackson.
With the third rounder, look to either the DLine or the OLine

To quote Lombardi.... 4 yards in a pile of dust. Controlling the football wins as many games as a great defense. I need to correct the 2nd round pick... his name is Max Jean Gilles. Plus an OG in the 2nd round won't cost you that much.

Pros: A beast of a man, he dominates the interior line. Max has the ideal size and strength of an NFL offensive guard. Also, he repeatedly went up against other NFL talent level DTs playing in the SEC.
Cons: Could play more aggressively at times but has no major flaws.
Overall: The top offensive guard in this years draft. Unfortunately for Max guard is ranked as less of a priority than tackle. This is the only reason that he may slip into the top several selections of the second round.

What would you rather draft, guys that can be allpro or guys that fill a need? What happens if Mayberry of Holland goes down? We will need a center. Protect Brees and open holes for Deuce and watch the offense shine expecially down the road. We'll have the guys for 3 years. Get FAs on defense.

Still your point is well taken saintswhodi.

Duece... Cromartie has too many injury concerns... don't know when he will get on the field. Stud player but be another Lymann... Has the ability thought...

Pros: He has the size - 6'3, 200+, speed - under 4.4, and strength you are looking for at the corner position. Prototypical CB with Deion Sanders cover skills and speed, however, he can come up and play run and actually tackle.
Cons: The obvious injury is a concern to most. Just to show though, he's still a possible 1st rounder having basically not played last year. If he can come back at 100%, he could be a top corner in the league in a couple years.
Overall: Sky is the limit on his potential, but the burning question remains, is he going to be 100%? If so, any double digit pick would be a steal. We'll find out post-combine, but as a potential late 1st rounder, he may be a missing key to a very good team.

See, I am ALL over that. 5-7 would be perfect, cause of the picks we would gain, and the player we would get for our defense. I'd even be fine with Mangold with the next pick. But these O-line, then O-line again scenarios kill me. Has anyone watched our defense the last few years? Our MAIN problems have been coaching, QB, defense, O-line. We took care of coaching finally, took care of QB finally, grabbed Jamaal last year for the O-line, and picked up this FA Goodwin, who seems decent, and have tweaked the defense somewhat, but we only have one true star, Smith. McKenzie is good, but not great, Dwight is good, but not great, Will Smith is great. Get the Hawk at LB, and we have another GREAT player on defense.

Actually, you can't control the ball unless your D allows you to have the lead. Or you could, and field a boring, low scoring offense with a D that can't always back you up with that. Don't think that would be too pretty.

response-

OT- Gandy looked like grandpa to me too. Expensive now too. However, I will trust the FO talent evaluation whether he has any gas left or is worth the price. Ditto for Stinch. If they say either is a worthy starter then the draft outlook is much different. If not a OT is needed in the first 2 rounds fo sho.

CB- dunno about if 2th weakest but definitely needs upgrade with FA and/or draft whether Smith move is viable or not

DT- agreed, FA stoppers are disappearing. Need a Wroten or better on draft day

WR- is light on depth. Will be interesting to see how many "drops" there are bringing in a QB with more than one gear in the touch dept. A big inside posession guy would be ideal.

OG- Holland is tendered. Staying here unless someone offered something we felt to wacky to match. Mayberry is much like Gandy IMO. I'll let the FO make the call. He is a center option too.

I would add-

C- No mention of the position that we only have a questionable G to play. Need somebody!

LB- One good solid journeyman signed in Fujita. Simmons is a giant boom or bust story. McKinnon is ancient and hasn't been resigned. He could stop the run but was useless on pass coverage. Should be able to get at least one decent player out of youngsters Watson, Fincher, and Bock. Impact player here would transform D

K- Only more downhill ahead for Carney I believe. Edinger and Josh Brown would be upgrades IMO. At least bring in some legitimate camp competition.

QB- One extremely good but yet to be proven again QB. A veteran backup needed badly, just in case. Maddox, Banks, and Wright are all proven not break the bank options.

what's left? LOL a Pro Bowl punter, good RB depth, and solid DEs.

Can't argue with drafting Hawk. Still we have OLB. We really need a NT that can occupy both the center and guard. This would free the MLB to make plays. As of now that is not happening so getting a MLB high in the draft my not pay gread dividends. Sure my post about drafting 3 OL is not going to happen but you have a chance to draft 3 future allpros... and already have another on the OL... wow.

I also think our safety position is pretty solid, and so is FB. TE is good, but thin.

FFs underlying point that we need to protect our high dollar QB seems to require a greater than average emphasis on the O-line this season.

I wouldn't trust Gandy against all the edge rushers in this division.

I'd like to see defensive improvement too, but not at the price of looking at Drew Brees, arm in a sling, all season.

Well guys I guess my drafting idea evolves around this....

The last few years.. we didn't have much of a running game. We couldn't control the LOS and never blew people off the ball like when we have Roaf, Turley and Bentley playing guard. With these players, Brooks looked like the second coming and Duece had over 2000 combined yards. We scored 30+ points a game. Without these players, we never had time to throw the ball and it magnified the problem with Brooks ie poor decisions, sacks and fumbles. Poor OL play plagued the Ditka years too. Our defense will be ok with a few more FAs.

With a draft like that and the skill players we have, we would be one of the best offenses in the league. Remember our coach is a QB coach and he might decide to go this way.

again, I am not buying this argument. Peyton Manning seems to do fine behind his less than stellar O-line. Name me three players on Pitt's O-line without going to NFL.com. Seattle? What about the Pats? Their entire O-line is unspectacular. And Denver has the best O-line in the league year in and year out, is that cause they have all the best linemen? Hell no. And let's look at Brees' Chargers. When Brees sucked, EVERYONE said they had one of the worst lines in football. When Brees played like a pro bowler, they got better. Coincidence? Um, no. All these teams have a smart QB under center, and good coaching for their O-line. We had NEITHER when Haz was here. All this Drew Brees will get killed cause we don't get all the best linemen nonsense is just that, nonsense. Brees has been in the league long enough to know how to protect himself in the pocket, as well as how to operate in the pocket. AND we have a new coach and new blocking schemes. At least give that a chance before we go balls to the wall for O-lineman, and ignore the OBVIOUS lack of overall talent on D, which we have been screaming for forever. Anyone else think Brees will spin into a rush, or run 25 yards back, or avoid stepping up in the pocket like there is an E Bola monkey in there, or will lock onto one receiver, or will take 7 step drops on plays that call for 3, or any of those things? If so, raise your hand and be counted. If not, realize that cutting ALL those things will improve ANY O-line.

It sure will... I'd love to draft a defense but too many defensive players have questions. Besides, until the NT can occupy the center and guard, nothing will change in the running game. This is because the MLB wil have to occupy a OLman and the SS will have to handle the FB. If we had a allpro NT, this would help everybody including the DE on pass rushing downs.

Saintswhodi... I feel your pain, but name 15 OL in the league. They can be great and go completely unnoticed. Great QB play will help but you need great athlethes too. You may be living in a dream world thinking Brees can single handedly make the Saints line better. Won't happen. I hope I'm wrong.

I'll name for you 15 O-lineman, and won't name a Saint.

Orlando Pace,
Walter Jones'
Steve Hutchinson
Jordan Gross,
Robert Gallery,
jake Grove,
Jonathon Ogden,
Will Shields,
Tom Ashworth,
Mike Wahle
Jeff Faine,
Kenyatta Walker,
Ruben Brown
Max Starks
Adam Meadows
Jason Fabini
Al Johnson
Andre Gurode
Adrian Clemm
Neal(from Denver)
Tuti Fonoti
Tuten Reyes
Orlando Brown

Need more? That's just off the top of my head. Or I could go look up the Super Bowl champ Steelers line and see how many pro bowlers they had. I do actually have to look that one up. They had one guard, and their center as a reserve. And the guard, Alan Faneca is a name I know but didn't list. Strange, NO team sent 5 O-linemen to the pro bowl. How odd. You mean teams get by without having all of thie O-linemen in the pro bowl? :roll:

Damn... you're good. Tuten Reyes doesn't count... you know that. LOL.

Do you agree we need Dbrick or Halk for #1? I say Dbrick.

What do you thing about drafting Ngata? Seems a good choice. Another LB I like is Greenway and Carpenter if we could get them later in round one.

If you go defense... I would lke this... assuming we trade down...
DT Nagata, OLB Carpenter. MLB D’Qwell Jackson

Really don't like any of the CB prospects. Too small and my not be better than what we have.

I like trading down like Deuce said, to somewhere around 5-7, and taking Hawk. If he is gone, I take Ngata, and hope for D'Qwell Jackson in the second or late first, along with Mangold, or Winton Justice, or Marcus McNeil. I spend my TOP pick on defense, except for corner, and my next two in any combo of defense and an O-lineman.

Poss combos- Hawk, Wroten, Mangold(or Justice, or McNeil)
Ngata, D'Qwell(or Carpenter or Hodge), and the above O-line combo

In either scenario, we have gotten a good O-lineman, but stellar defensive players, where we have need to get impact players forever. As I keep saying, you don't NEED 5 of the best O-lineman around, but you do need a defense that, when called upon, can create that crucial stop or turnover that wins games. We don't have that, or too many of those types of players. We have one great player on D, a few good ones, and several who prob would not start anywhere else. That's gotta change. But, that's also just my opinion. You can hope for whatever you like.

QB-check
RB-check
WR-check, could use a big man
TE-need more depth
OT-check, need to address after this year
OG-check
C-check, have plenty of "servicable" players
DE-check
DT-need 1 more starter
OLB-need atleast 1 more starter
MLB-need a starter
CB-need a young guy to groom behind mckenzie and thomas
FS-check
SS-check
K-need 1
P-check