As Smith is the RDE, he goes up against some of the most premiere LOT (why did we move Brown to LOT?) who are there to protect the blind side...of a right handed QB. As such, Smith's production is at a much higher level IMHO.

I don't know what Smith actually said, so hate to over-generalize and group him with all of the other greedy players out there.

The bottom line is, he signed what he and his agent thought was a fair contract. Suddenly, the guy next to him gets a raise, and he's pissed.

Is he a bigger asset than Grant? Yes.
Does he deserve more money? Not yet.

My thought is that the FO knew this was coming when they signed Grant. The plan for next year might be to cut 3rd and 4th year dead weight and go with the cheaper option of playing our strong draft picks and FA signings.

Of course Will Smith is unhappy. A lot of players are unhappy with there current contracts. With the cap incresing this year a lot of underserving players got fat deals(Ovie Mughelli FB, Atlanta Falcons a six-year contract worth $18 million . The deal includes a $5 million signing bonus.)
I am not saying C Grant is underserving, I am just saying he was paid what the market determined in a given year. In 2 years when Will Smith's contract is up he will be paid a lot more than Grant. The cap is expected to rise anoth 25 million over the next 2 years. The big contracts the Saints have now ( Brees, Bush, Grant, even Jason Daivd) are front loaded. Smith will get his and he deserves it.

I am very hopeful we can keep these two together for many more years. It's sad to see Smith air his discontent to the media. He should have professionally made his case with Loomis and Payton and done his job. I fully agree he will be due for a big pay day, and hopefully the path he takes to get there would have reflected their willingness to re-structure him prior to his contract running out.

Now with this I can see the team getting their feathers ruffled and it becoming an area of contention for this season and into next. I am sure the team would have approached him the following offseason to start some talks had he not jumped the gun like this. Too bad.

Yep... this definately should have been kept behind closed doors.

In the days of the internet very few things are kept in house.
I have yet to see a quote from Smith himself, only a report from Adam Schefter. He probably is upset, along with a ot of other players in the league.

Exactly. Also, we all have seen where an agent gets ahead of his headlights on things of this nature. We may wake up one morning to see Smith's looking for a new agent.

An opposite situation is unfolding in New Orleans, where the Saints signed their franchise defensive end Charles Grant to a seven-year contract worth up to $63 million. Grant is now happy; New Orleans other defensive end, Pro Bowl selection Will Smith, is not.

Smith has two years remaining on a contract that is scheduled to pay him less than $1 million this season. Smith now is seeking a new contract and he is hoping and expecting talks aimed at a new contract to start soon, if they haven't already.

Personnel people around the league believe that Smith is every bit the player that Grant is, if not better, it's just that Grant had the fortune of having his contract expire now. But this is a prime example of the ripple effects of any lucrative contract that any team in the league now hands out. Somebody is going to be happy, and somebody is not.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/10164717

Above is the article where PFT got their information. My feeling is that Smith should wait another year before asking for a new contract. I don't mind players wanting to get a new deal with one year left since that can get us past the hassle of the franchise tag, but two years is just too early.

Instead of greedily wanting to get his money now, the signing of Grant should indicate to him that the Saints are going to give big contracts to their important players. We can go back and forth on the which DE is better debate, but the bottomline is Grant played out his contract without pulling any of this dissension in the ranks crap. One has acted like a leader (at least until the franchise tag) and the other is acting like a greedy prima dona.

My vote will be for keeping the leader and drafting the prima dona's replacement next year.