tiggerpolice

Six days hence, the New Orleans Saints will take a bold step in the new millennium.

At least, that's the plan.

Mickey Loomis, the Saints' general manager, is playing it coy as the club plots its strategy for the 2006 NFL Draft. As he should. This is the Saints' most important draft since Mike Ditka unloaded an entire draft, and two premium picks the next year, to grab Heisman Trophy head case Ricky Williams.

This is the Saints' first draft, post-Katrina, and one that could shape the club's long-term prospects of staying in New Orleans.

If, in fact, that's what Tom Benson actually has in mind. Benson has pledged his club will be part of the rebuilding effort in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South, but he's been selling snake oil on Poydras Street for a couple of decades already.

Benson was trying to say all the right things when the Saints returned from San Antonio, their temporary home for the 2005 season. But that was little more than damage control, after the Saints' miserly owner threw up every smoke signal known to man that he wanted to relocate permanently in South Texas.

For the time being, however, we know the Saints are coming back to the Louisiana Superdome. We know they have the second pick in the draft, and we know they may shape the entire tone for the first round by what they decide to do with that pick.

The Saints will send trial balloons on their intentions throughout the week, but it's pretty clear what they intend to do. They're hoping some NFL team decides it can't leave anything to chance by trading for the pick, making like Marlon Brando and giving the Saints no choice but to make the deal.

That could happen when the Saints are on the clock on Saturday in New York, and it's not likely to happen before then.

Tennessee and the New York Jets, the two teams picking after the Saints, both have needs at quarterback. Alcorn State legend Steve McNair may have played his last down in Nashville and the Jets' Chad Pennington ought to be known as Hanging Chad for the amount of time he spends hanging around on injured reserve.

The two quarterbacks who dueled in last season's BCS national championship game, Southern California's Matt Leinart and Vince Young of Texas, have commanded the most attention. Leinart has remarkable poise and put up some amazing numbers in three years as the USC starter, bringing the Trojans one national title and a share of another.

Young, on the other hand, is the once-in-a-lifetime athlete who can make jaws drop any time he wanders out of the pocket. Young beat Southern Cal pretty much by himself in the Rose Bowl, but moving from a spread offense at Texas to the more conventional NFL model will be a huge adjustment.

The Jets need one of these guys. The Titans should get one of them, regardless.

The Saints' best bet is to wait for the Jets to make a move. The Jets need to make a splash in the tabloids and Leinart would obviously fill that bill. Young, too, for that matter.

The Saints have all sorts of needs, but none of them more critical than the offensive line. They need Virginia offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson. They grabbed Oklahoma's Jamaal Brown, a powerful drive blocker at right tackle, with their first pick in last year's NFL Draft. The Saints have to keep new quarterback Drew Brees in one piece, and that all starts with your offensive tackles.

Brown and Ferguson could give the Saints a foundation with which they could actually build something. Plus, the dude has a really cool name. D'Brickashaw.

Think of the marketing possibilities.

• Brees, Brack and Brown.

• D'Brick House.

• Breesy Street.

The Saints can't let Ferguson get away, even if it means keeping the second pick and using it on the rangy offensive lineman. Unless the Houston Texans do something really crazy, and draft somebody other than USC's Reggie Bush with the first pick overall. In that case, all bets are off.

The Bush administration?

The current one has been more than enough

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