James Allen gone for the year
 

RE: James Allen gone for the year
 

What will we do??????????? Put a safety in his place, we have enough.

What else is new...its not like we were counting on him anyway.

come on when he was on the field he was ok at least they didnt till 3 weeks in the season like last year

they got to bring in any decent june 1 cuts know dont you guys think

Well, i hate to see him get hurt, but he was hurt all of last year...and he was hurt every year before that...but my point is Allen getting hurt doesnt really cost the Saints any victories. It just weakens an already weak position...but i think with the exception of Fujita, all these guys are interchangable.

Another wasted draft pick... at least we've been consistent over the years.

well, if you ask me, the scouting department is very good at identifying the top 20 players in the draft...with the exception of Sullivan, the Saints have done well with their first round picks lately, and you can include Darren Howard in there, but after the first round, they really struggle to find playmakers...or even guys that can help right away, not start...but the Saints seem to take a lot of developmental guys in the 2nd and 3rd round and that kills me. All the teams that are contenders come away with a handfull of guys that contribute right away in every draft...that is the difference between us and them.

After the first round... pretty much nothing has been relevant for us. I'm pretty sure almost every team is good at identifying the top 20 players in the draft. I'm pretty sure I could do a damn good job at it too. Let's not give them to much credit now.

Hello Roman Harper. Ugh.

True True,

As bad as we have been, Look at some of the other draft nightmares that other teams endured. Case in point, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith and Tim Couch. At least we didn't pay much for th junk we picked. Except Sully of course, and i am hoping he does something this year. Payton will not put up with lazyness so if Sully does not show some magic, he is OUTAHERE!

:bananajoy: This is Sully getting pounced on by Payton in Minicamp. :airguitar:

Here's a problem I have -

Apparently, Payton doesn't like something about D. Smith character wise/off field and has put him on the trade block. We all saw that he was productive last year, which *must* mean he worked hard to be a productive NFL player.

Now, Sullivan has never done anything on the field, and has always been mentioned as being lazy and not doing the work it takes to be a productive NFL player, yet he's not being mentioned as trade bait.

Having said that, yes, of course, I realize he probably doesn't have much value to other teams in a trade.
My point is my frustration with the Smith trade talk and the safety retardedness, along with nothing of addition in the draft at DT (and please, don't give me Hollis Thomas) and nothing of value currently at the position on the roster.

Jeremy, it does sound frustrating on the surface. But don't you think Payton sat down and had a face to face with each and every one of the players by now? Don't you think he might know something about the situation he is not telling? We already know how big he is on good Character players. Maybe he sees Smith as a growing tumor that will become malignant soon and will rid the team with Cancer. It doesn't matter how good he is. Case in point - T.O., and to a lesser extent, Turley. We didn't get rid of Turley because he was not good. We got rid of him because he was talking CHIT about all the management of the team and you JUST CAN'T let that chit go on or it WILL DESTROY YOUR TEAM, GUARANTEED. As much as it hurts, we have to give Payton a chance to show us that he knows what he is doing. He is Brand New and has not yet proven that he is Hazlike.

Where the hell is Alfred Fincher? I haven't heard anything about the guy since we drafted him!!!

This is bad news. I was hoping that James Allen would live up to his talent level this season and allow Simmons to move to the inside (where he had his best years with the Seahawks) and get Colby Bockwoldt out of this starting lineup.

I never expected Fincher to be any more than a special teams contributor. I guess we're stuck with Bockwoldt, even though he's awful, and I am still confused as to why we didn't take a LB in the second round. But I don't want to get whodi started, so I'll leave it at that.

If Bockwoldt is so awlful... I'd hate to ask what you think of Allen, Hodge, Fincher, and Watson because he's easily outperformed every single one of them.

WBL we are okay. like safety, we have a ton of them. I still would like to see Watson get a shot here.
MLB will be better than last year. but that is just IMO and Bockwoldt is better suited here.
SLB starter upgrade was key but now we need a backup. key here is quality backup.
Wish we had the Panthers philosiphy and built the best DL in the NFL to make up for the the weaknesses at LB.

some free agent options
Tommy Polley UFA 4 6-3/240 Florida State Baltimore released Sun, 16 Apr 2006
Peter Boulware UFA 9 6-4/255 Florida State Baltimore Fri, 17 Mar 2006
Quinton Caver UFA 5 6-4/241 Arkansas Dallas
Chad Brown UFA 13 6-2/245 Colorado New England

He will NOT be missed..ahh byye byeee

Yes, Bockwoldt is aweful...and he fits in the same category with all the other guys you mentioned, they would never start for any other team in the NFL, yet they all started for the Saints.

So....now that we are faced with this....are there still any available good FA LB's out there?

Funny thing is... he's still starting. Two different regimes and he's still in the starting lineup. He's not stud, but he's not a dud either. There are plenty of MLB's left out there on the market and there were plenty to choose from in the draft... anyone see where I'm going with this?

:beatnik:

Yeah, nowhere, cause Colby is simply the best of the worst. :P We are also starting Stinch at RT and he has never started an NFL game. Payton is just making the most of what he's got. Colby's a nice story and all, but special teamer only for anyone else in the league.

Well then...whodi....its also safe to say that Colby is....the worst of the best. :jester:

And as long as you are in the group labeled best......you are not to shabby!!

This advitertisement was paid for by the half-glass full/half-glass empty foundation. Common sense through contradiction...thats our motto. :crowd:

Special teamer only? Give the man a little credit. Guess we'll find out if he's ever released. Seeing how he sucks, I guess it should be happening in the near future. We do have the cap room... and there's still some big name LB's out there.

Special team LBs can make names for themselves, see Larry Izzo. Doesn't mean they should be your every down MLB. Bad idea.

And then there are guys like Clark Haggans and Larry Foote... 8)

Who are both much better than Colby. Good call. I think we're done here. :wink:

No one knew how good they were going to be... so I'll help you see my point of view. Special team linebackers who developed into solid linebackers down the road. They had an opportunity to sit and learn from great linebackers (with good coaches I might add) and then given the chance to play. Seeing how Colby stepped right in and had no one to learn from... I think he's right on schedule or even ahead of schedule. Come on now sw... I do think we're done here. :annoy:

I'll knock this out with your own post:

Special team linebackers who developed into solid linebackers down the road. They had an opportunity to sit and learn from great linebackers (with good coaches I might add)

Yup, we're done here. :P :P

But just in case we're not, colby has not had ONE great LB to learn from, and his coaching came from Haz and Venturi. In one offseason, with unproven coaches, I am supposed to assume he is ready to take a leap into starting MLB territory? Yes sir, we can close the book on this one. :wink:

He held his own last year. I think with time and experience....he wil develop into something reliable. Whats the worst that could happen...he gets worse? So we cut him.

After trying him at the starting MLB position. Great plan.

So seeing how you read the end part of that statement also... I don't think I could explain it anymore. Why restrict a guy who's proven he much more than a special teamer? Wouldn't he regress and not improve? He's been getting better the past two seasons and though I don't think he's ready to start at MLB yet, I don't see why he shouldn't start. If we're in this so-called rebuilding stage, and if the staff feels he's someone that will continue to get better, why not let him continue to learn on the job? What are we losing? If Haggans and Foote weren't given the chance, no one would have ever known they would be that good.

Come on sw... and we know he won't be able to handle it because? Give the man a chance before you shut the door. An unproven head coach we might have, but the others are hardly unproven. I guess we'll find out when it's all said and done. Don't say I didn't tell you in advance... 130 tackles this year!

What are we losing by letting a guy who has never played MLB and is barely better than your average special teamer START at MLB? Oh, well, I guess we're losing nothing then. He's been so awesome these past two years, should be a natural transition. A guy who hasn't cause one fumble in two years, and has averaged 50 tackles, is now gonna take over at MLB, and get 130 tackles? What are we losing? Wow.

Well seeing how we were 3-13 last year... not much. And seeing how he's the best of the rest of the bunch, who else would you rather have in there? It's obvious there are people who does see something in the guy.

Look at it this way. We are dealing with Coach Payton. Mr. Character. The bottom line is this.....if Colby was that terrible we would probably let him go somehow. But I bet you he saw in Colby what most of us have seen......undying effort. Sure he may not be starting material but he never gave up or quit on ANY given play. The guy has heart and decent skills. Thats more than you can say for "stud" like D. Howard. Buckwoldt is just another one of those workhorses that you love to see because he NEVER EVER QUITS! Like everything else.....with time.....he will develop. A lot of the good linebackers in the league started off as little scrappers loaded with pads. I'm sure Colby, in time, will develop and sharpen his skills. And...as I said.....if he does not.....we cut him. But I doubt that will happen. I actually think he can and will flourish.

Yes, they see something, they see he is the best of a bunch of bad options, like I said 4 posts ago. Le's not go in circles here papzy. :P

There's also a reason had Reggie bush been drafted by the Texans, we would have gotten AJ Hawk at two. Colby's not the answer dude. He's the best of a squad of worse options.

Like sullivan? Oh wait, he's still here and more than likely starting. You must mean like bouman? Oh wait, still here. Then you HAVE to mean like Jacox right? Nope still here. Ok, I am 100% certain you mean like Craft. What? He's still here too? No way. I mean, if they were terrible, like we know those duds are, coach Payton would have gotten rid of them right? Or maybe he has no other options. Can we add Carney to that list? :roll:

Which remains to be seen... season starts in September. 8)

Final stats - 138 tackles and 3 sacks 1 int... get it while it's hot. Anyone else want to ask my magic 8 ball something? :dance2:

Yeah, if you're ever gonna put that dooby down, you're wasted. :beatnik: