WhoDat

Well guys, tell me what you think. I'm trying to get my head around this off-season so far and I'm having a hard time. Let's consider...

I was bitter in the early goings when the Saints let Delhomme go without even making him an offer (although I'm really glad he'll get a chance to start), and I wasn't big on what we paid Gandy (although I like the guy), and I am still concerned about how and why Turley got to be so disgruntled that we had to let our second Pro Bowl caliber tackle go in as many years.

HOWEVER - I'm happy with the signings of Tebucky Jones and Ernie Conwell. Bouman was as good a move as we could have made after Delhomme left and I've only heard good things about Berger.

Again, back to the down side. Ruff is not the solution at MLB... well, at least I have a hard time believing he will be. After letting two of our more talented players go (Knight and Clemons - yes he is a very talented OLB), we didn't do much in free agency to improve our talent on defense.

The draft was so-so to me. I like most of the players we got, I am just concerned that we may have overpaid for a few. This is not something we will be able to figure out for a couple of years, which is why I haven't "graded" our draft, but my initial feelings are decent players, but fairly poor values.

We came into the off-season needing help at basically every defensive position. I like what they've done up front, though one more DT might not hurt. At LB, I'm scared sh-tless. I don't think these guys we have can hack it. We're OK at corner, not great, and I like our safeties... even more so if we sign Green.

I guess I have to agree with Mike Detillier. Two more signings on D will make me feel much better. I still think we need help at EVERY LB position but I'll take a MLB. I'd like to get Horn signed and Green would be nice. Otherwise, if there's room, another DT would be nice. We should wait until next year to go out and find a real shutdown corner rather than making a stretch for someone this year. What do you guys think? I still can't decide. I'll tell you what though, Green and a more proven MLB would make this off-season for me.

ssmitty

so.........are you jumping back on the bandwagon or off? personally, i never got off.......sorry to jack with you wd but i don\'t think anyone on the board has the answers you seek nor i........time will tell where we stand when the season starts and ends. we will get more players, but no one but the saints know who.......all we can do is wait and hope........smitty

JOESAM2002

So I guess what you\'re telling me is that this is what we have and let me see if I can get this right?
We have running our team,
1 A car dealer for an owner, you know what people say about them.
2 A bean counter for a general manager numbers, numbers, numbers
3 A coach that can\'t coach
Boy are we ever in trouble. LOL
Makes you wonder how this team was ever 6-1 at one point last year doesn\'t it? LOL

F.B.Wiz

WHODAT, i am actually agreeign with you a little bit. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Everyone lamented the departure of Jake Delhomme but it also makes perfect sense to me. The fact is for better or worse we are locked into Aaron Brooks as the starter for a few years because of his contract. When he has bad games everybody screems for Delhomme. Letting the hometown hero go alleviates that pressure from the coaching staff. That may be a chicken s**t way to deal with it but I promise you that factored into not trying harder to resign Delhomme. Nobody is going to yell \"PUT BOUMAN IN!\"
Also you are right.. we overpayed Gandy but we had to. He had other offers out there and if we didn\'t juice the contract he wouldn\'t have come. The front office is smart enought to know you need a top flight left guard and knew they had enough of Turleys crap. I know I did! I want Fontenot gone too.

F.B.Wiz

WHODAT, i am actually agreeign with you a little bit. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Everyone lamented the departure of Jake Delhomme but it also makes perfect sense to me. The fact is for better or worse we are locked into Aaron Brooks as the starter for a few years because of his contract. When he has bad games everybody screems for Delhomme. Letting the hometown hero go alleviates that pressure from the coaching staff. That may be a chicken s**t way to deal with it but I promise you that factored into not trying harder to resign Delhomme. Nobody is going to yell \"PUT BOUMAN IN!\"
Also you are right.. we overpayed Gandy but we had to. He had other offers out there and if we didn\'t juice the contract he wouldn\'t have come. The front office is smart enought to know you need a top flight left guard and knew they had enough of Turleys crap. I know I did! Part of me wants Fontenot gone too.

JOESAM2002

Good point on Jake FW. It makes sense to me. AB has really sensitive feelings. I\'m not sure i\'d like to get booed by 70,000 screaming coonasses either.
Only one thing, Gandy is a left tackle. Getting him was what enabled us to unload Turley.

[Edited on 29/4/2003 by JOESAM2002]

F.B.Wiz

DAMMIT JOESAM. I meant Left Tackle and you KNOW IT LOL

JOESAM2002

Just gigging you a little. LOL

rusta

i agree with whodat on this one, as much as it doesn\'t seem like it we have been taking the right path this offseason, now we just need to:


sign green
pay horn
get a LB or two from somewhere
maybe a corner if one falls into our lap (sounds like a lot to do but it\'s not really)

if we fall short of at least the second round of the playoffs then i\'ll doubt haz, barring any injuries of course, don\'t forget our schedule doesn\'t look very easy

[Edited on 29/4/2003 by rusta]

D_it_up

I\'ve got two words for everyone....Rick Venturi! I don\'t care if we get the top players in the league at every position. We won\'t be going ANYWHERE on defense with him as D. Coordinator. I may be losing light of the topic at hand, but I guarantee if Zook were still in New Orleans, he could take these guys we have and make them a top-10 defense. Then with the offense we have now, who could stop us? 16-0, maybe? I know it\'s wishful thinking, but I\'m a Pisces. I\'m supposed to be a dreamer. As I was saying, the defense IMO is LOADED with talent, speed, and potential. Under the right tutilege, these boys could be amazing. I\'ve been saying it all off-season. BRING ME THE HEAD OF RICK VENTURI!!!!! Sure we can all say that Hand and Jackson bloated to 400 lbs and that cost us, but they really didn\'t have much of a rush on the QB all year. Exit Hand, enter Sullivan. Sullivan is quicker, stronger, and more athletic than \"The Big Wiggle\". Will it matter? I\'m not so sure it will. I just don\'t have ANY faith in Rick Venturi as a defensive coordinator, or even a funeral cooridinator for that matter. I think that is a fitting illustration of Venturi, though. If his defense doesn\'t succed this year, it\'ll be HIS funeral. Possibly Haslett\'s as well.

People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.