........butt-naked in Antarctica. :wink:

Favre was at his prime when Javon made the probowl as a reserve. Who did Donte have? Brooks didn't know how to throw fade plays & most time he was throwing in areas to have his recievers killed. i am sure @ the end of the season Donte will top Javon.

I likeeeeeeey
Now Devery to SD for Henderson.
Screw that!
Cut Henderson and draft intelligently with the extra 4th next year.
This team isn't a 1 yr project gents.
With some patience I do believe I could see the NFC Champion Saints in my lifetime though.

I'll say it again...it was a character issue.... good people, good character, and good work ethic will get us where we need to be. I'm glad Smith, and Stalls, and all the other big money, big attitude, no guts playas are gone. I think we are well on the way to righting the ship.....Colston and some of these young receivers are hungry...and Hungry is GOOD!!!!!!!

nola that is silly to even compare a guy who had near 90 catches in a season. clearly better then donte. donte had his best year last year and it is also the only season he wasn't hurt. the first since he has been here. this year he started off hurt. i am not sad to see him go. he is able to be replaced. if it turns into a 3rd we got good value

For what it's worth, I think we got some pretty good production out of Stallworth in his years here. Yes he did have some drops, but I think that his hands are getting a little better. Like I said in an earlier post, the biggest reason for the trade is that we weren't going to offer him a big FA contract after this year because he wasn't the leader at WR we could build around like Horn. We need the $ to spend on defense and I bet now that Donte is gone, Reggie Bush will line up at WR more often. We got ok value for him, considering he was in the last year of his contract we weren't going to get much better. BTW, does anyone know what Simoneau's contract value/length is?

The thing I don't like about the trade is that now we have to throw Colston or Jamal Jones into the fire and start them at WR. If we had kept Stallworth, we would have had more time to groom one of our young WR's to start next year.

I hope Stall does well in Philly and I'm thinking McNabb and him will work well together as the season goes on. Bummer though, I've now got a fantasy team w/ both Philly WR's Reggie Brown and Stallworth.

except on Oct. 15

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunhera...s/15386022.htm

Interesting comments in this article,

"The fast impression of 2006 seventh-round pick Marques Colston, Payton said, made dealing Stallworth a bit easier. When asked if Colston would be the No. 2 receiver, Payton said, "Right now, no question."

"Despite the need for a solid middle linebacker, Simoneau wasn't the main incentive for the deal. The draft pick was priority No. 1."

"That's how it started," Payton said. "The player was an additional part of the deal, which helps us. But more importantly, the beginning process of the talks, the draft pick was definitely something we were looking for."

I was trying to leave New Orleans yesterday morning when our plane was pulled back to the gate. We were told it was bad weather by the pilot, but when I called my brother, he said it was because there was a bomb at Philly Airport. We were released to continue our journey when Stallworth dropped it.

How does our number one receiver from 2005 go for a conditional 2nd day pick and a backup linebacker who's not started in 18 months? I see everyone's "justification", but I'm not that convinced that holding him until after the roster cuts doesn't improve his trade value. Also, if I were less than enamored of someone who might have substantial trade value, I shut the F*&K up about my displeasure so I didn't undermine my ability to get full value for him. I didn't think there was much foot to shoot off, but we continue to find more.

The value chart is for deals concerning players in the future. For players that have been around, their performance is what determines their value, regardless of what spot they were drafted in. By that reasoning you would expect more for Ernie Conwell than Antonio Gates. The market value is what you can get. As long as he has been rumored on the block I do not doubt they took the best deal available. I liked him overall, but I do think he is closer to the 1st rd disappointment of Lelie that cost backup running back Duckett than the 2nd pick former AllPro Walker garnered.

His numbers may go up too. From Brooks to a solid QB most would. I think you'll still see the bobbling and drops though. Some receivers have incredible tools of size or speed but are lacking in that most essential element.

With it looking like a keepable WR or two was going to be cut I think it was a wise roster management move. As quoted, it was about the draft pick. Simoneau is lagniappe. At 29 I don't count him as quite ancient yet. He did have 100 tackles just two years ago. Just like Shanle, maybe not an AllPro but certainly an upgrade from the days of Hodge starting. LB isn't a team strength yet. It is nice to hear people point to other areas as the biggest hole for a change. That's progress. Or at least as some have noticed, the FO is no longer just sitting on their butts and keep losing the same way. That was a major beef with Haz... How far did we have to go down before Brooks was pulled? The LBs were NEVER properly addressed. How many of the same great athlete/poor football players did we keep accumulating? The presnap penalties increased from year to year. Etc, etc, etc. If you are gonna go 8-8 virtually 4 straight years at least shake it up and don't keep failing the same way.

Rant done.

a mid grade lb for stall and nothing for d. smith.......should have packaged them together and got something good

we all knew it would happen. i do not have the link but a Horn statement went something like this:
I lost two good friends from the team today.....With Donte I take some of the blame upon myself. I should of taught him to be more professional. If he was he would still be here.
That sums it up in a nut shell. It was not so much skills as attitude.
now a 4 that could be a 3 is a good deal. heck McNair only got a 4. The addition of a seasoned vet that can play and has played all 3 LB positions, as a starter, is a great throw in. Fast and covers in space very well is a big addition. He is a special teams demon, and has kicked a PAT or two to boot. The salaries are probly part of the reason he was added and the conditional pick accepted. he has 2 years left that pay him 1.1 and .95 million
So long donte and the best of luck. remeber once a saint always saint.
The bet is still on with some people here on dontes 06 performance. i still would like to loss the bet but he will drop enough passes to be a NFL lead leader. Once again keeping him from being among the elites of the game if his hammie does not go again. a shame
now I am worried if my boy hass will make it. well KC will show alot now that donte's sales auddition is over.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2564338

From this story Joe Horn seems to indicate that Sall was being a butthead. I think Payton has made it clear that regardless of talent if you demonstate your ablity to be an ass your history.

And on a team where ablity is as rare as winning that is saying something!

hagan, Henderson is next to audition! Payton is hell bent on starting with a "new lease on life" with the Saints. IMHO

I know it is heresy to say this around here, but Horn's days are numbered as well. Not this year, but watch out NEXT!

It's simple. Stallworth is a gameday only player, and not a practice guy. But his history has been hit or miss and we have a Parcells type person at the helm, no nonsense, so that's it. Cry babies and loosers, big mouths and big shots will have a hard time here. Can you blame them? Only a select few hot shots actually cut checks their butts can pay for. I think he went for too little but I think we need LB help so bad they will deal anything.

the Joe quote-

“I felt a little bad about Donte being traded because I felt it was a little my fault I didn’t instill more professionalism in him,� Horn said. “If they thought he had more professionalism, he’d still be here now.�

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/...608290314/1001

Ok I can get over losing Stallworth... but give me something for him. A LB who will have little to no impact and a conditional 4th rounder??? I just as soon as kept him a year. We have got to get big dominating people up on the lines and Mark isn't one of them. Its going to be a long 2-3 years.

The site was down yesterday so I might be a little late in this discussion. I was very sad when I heard that we had traded Donte. I was always a big fan and thought that he solidified our receiving corps as being "legit." But then I got to thinking about how good he actually was. We all expected him to live up to his first-round status, but in reality, he never did. The guy was given pretty much every chance in the world, including the #1 spot for last season, and he still couldn't break the 1000 yard plateau. You can call it Brooks' fault or whatever you want, but I don't think Brooks ever kept Donte from being an upper echelon receiver; Donte did. He seems to have a serious lack of concentration or something. He does drop a lot of balls, plain and simple. We can sit here and let his athleticism overshadow the deficencies in his game, but that would just be silly. That's one of the good things about having a guy like Payton come in, a guy who has no emotional ties to the players yet. He can't play favorites and just keep the guy around because he drafted him, or he liked him, or whatever. And you know what, no matter how fast and how much I potential I though Donte had, he just wasn't very good. He's too inconsistent to be an upper echelon receiver. I thought maybe this year would be different, but then I saw him drop two perfectly placed balls in a row in the Colts game. Let's just admit defeat and say we made another mistake in the draft. But in reality, let's take a hard look at what we're losing here. Really, we're losing a #2 receiver. But he'll probably assume the role of #1 receiver in the Philly offense. In his only year as a #1 starter, he only 945 yards, and 7 touchdowns. For a #1 receiver that's not very good. For all of those other seasons when we had Joe Horn starting, and Stall as the #2 guy, he never had more than 60 catches, never more than 800 yards, and never double-digit touchdowns. No matter how much talent he has, his stats tell the picture: he's just not that good. His yardage numbers aren't even as good as Ashley Lelie (although Lelie never scored as many touchdowns). Anyways, I guess my point is that we're losing a guy that I'm sure a lot of people here were still hoping would "develop" into being worthy of a first-round pick, including myself, but let's face it, he's been in the league for five seasons, and he still hasn't shown that he's capable of it. I think that tells us that he's just not that good.

About the rest of the deal. Mark Simoneau? I guess we could have done worse. He had a monster season two or three seasons ago when he had like 149 tackles. Apparently not a run stuffer up the middle, but good at playing the run off the edges. I am glad that we got somebody out of this deal, and the 4th round pick makes me even happier. However, it does seem to me that we're just stockpiling mediocre LBs like we stockpiled mediocre safeties earlier in the preseason. I mean we can only put three out on the field during a game, so I don't think it helps to have like 20 on the roster. Oh well. Simoneau should be a good locker room influence and I think he can still make some plays, surely more than Colby Bockwoldt and most of our other LBs.

What about our receiving corps? WIthout Donte we now have Joe Horn and then I guess Marques and Jammal Jones or Hass. That's not as scary, but I see big things in Colston's future. Remember gentlemen, this guy is a rookie coming out of a division 1-AA school. He has shown he can play and this is very early in his process of getting acclimated to a much higher level of competition.

Too many players in the league only play for their contract and not for the game.

Their goals are to hit that elevator clause, or trigger that bonus, not to win a SB. I think Stall is one of those players. The logic being that since he's on a bad team, he'll play for his bank account.

But, if Payton IS pulling in high character guys, at least they won't give up at the end of the season when things get dark. Hopefully their "character" will keep them fighting to the end and these new guys will make it interesting.

BTW, Charles Grant only plays for his contract too... :shock: :shock: :shock:

On the PUP list - Looking at the Priest Holmes article on ESPN the other day they said something like you can't put a player on the PUP list unless he's missed all of the preseason, or something along those lines. I don't think Bethel Johnson can go on that list.

You have to keep them on the PUP list for the first 6 weeks and then he has to be activated, cut, or placed on IR meaning he will be out the entire season. i dont think you will see the Saints do that with anyone...espiecally Michael Lewis.

Now.....I'm not one to say I told you guys so..... well, okay.......yes I am.

I told you Colston was going to take that #2 WR spot!!! :P

I hate you all. :cry:

It's okay, whodi. Donte will continue to drop balls in Philly & Colston will do nothing but catch touchdowns for our beloved Saints. :wink:

Donte will be a stud in Philly. My only wish was to see him at some point play with better coaches and a better QB. Too bad we had to send him to Philly for it to happen. But if it was about his attitude, then too bad Donte. You got a big head for no reason if that's the case.

If I was Benson I will be upset at Loomis for paying out all that bonus money for players that don't even last to end of the contract(Sully, Brooks, Smith, Stallworth, Watson) and don't get anything in return. People can say that they are not worth anything, then my argument with Loomis will be who drafted them? It just don't make any sense to trade Donte for a 4th rd pick.

I can see it now 08 when they release Deuce for a 4th rd pick.

Unreal. What did you guys think we were going to get a first or second rounder for him just because he was a first rounder? I think that if we get the third for him then I'm happy. You heard Joe Horn say it himself....the guy had no professionalism. Was he just going to all of a sudden change next year? Do we really want him to be a negative influence to Reggie?

Odds are he wasn't going to resign with us and he was going to walk for nada. I'd think you guys would've learned from Darren Howard.

Wait, you took ONE GUY'S quote and attributed it to "you guys?" Slow your roll................

I'm applying it to everyone who thinks that he wasn't going to walk next year and we got hosed with this trade. That's who "you guys" is refering to. No reason to get all butthurt over it.

It's just a business decision....why are so many people getting all emotional about this. Brooks, Sullivan, now Stallworth. All of them had attitude problems that weren't worth their talent.

i feel for dude :P

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

Donte's first comments.

Hmm, i've read this entire thread, and this seems to me like the only person who felt this way was the guy you replied to. IS there maybe one other or something? As much as I wanted Stallworth to stay, even I liked the trade. "You guys" should prob apply to more than one or two people though, especially when the overall sentiment of 99% of the thread was acceptance. I know you were eager to rant, but keep it relevant.

okay whoodi. like i said the bet is still on. root beer right? top shelf of course

My so-so

That Colston and DH are our #2 recivers, they'll share time at that position like in Camp
None of these youngsters can live up to be a #2 yet, I see us being like the old Colts or Pats, these two guys will mainly share time at this spot...This how they've been in Camp as well, to my surprise, even though I'm rooting for em, DH has looked better than alot of our recent #2 guys...Then Colston has been the most surprise to everyone, so thats how I see it....

Hass, this guy can play...From my recent readings, Hass and Jones have been in an all out brawl for the #3 spot, like DH and Colston has its just that they have two different styles in the game... Same as the Jones and Hass battle, which I think Hass will win, even though hes not earning playing time, if they were smart enough to do all these good roster moves, they'll be smart enough to utilize Hass

Horn
DH
/Colston
Hass or Jones
Jones or Hass
C.Horn or Moore or Lymaan-another last spot fight

Wrong you are my little padawan. According to sources inside the Saints organization, Colston is the guy at the #2 spot. Devery isn't even on Payton's radar for the spot anymore.

:nono2: Uh, uh, uh.......Daddy called that one since January. Check it:

Or when I was hoping for him on draft day in the 7th:

Hahaha, wow gandhi, for all that smoking you do you still have a good memory! :dance2:

I suspect that his steel-trap memory is only that good on the stuff he's gotten RIGHT Deuce. :wink:

Refresh my memory on the bet.

Am I the only one who thinks the Mgmt MAY have pulled the trigger too quick on this one?

Things to consider:
1- New quarterback = timing/velocity issues. Face it, Brees has been less than stellar thus far. If you give him a little time to adjust, shouldn't his receivers be given the same leeway?

2- Old quarterback = crap for stats. If you had a QB that could actually THROW the ball to a man, this wouldn't be an issue. We had AB. 'nuff said there.

3- New LB = poor pass defender/ no speed for pass rush/ undersized for stopping runs without a stud SS to assist.

and last but not least,
4- The Curse = Donte will go to Philly and become a receiving god to rival his Dad's legacy, and we'll be watching Horn free agent his way out of NOLA.

Lived 15 mins from Philly all my live and believe me, having watched Simoneaux play, he is definitely NOT the answer to our defense woes!
Talk to me people...