worried about the future of deuce
 

hey guys,

I just joined and this is my 1st post. Its great to chat with hard core black and gold fans who in my opinion seem very knowledgeable of the sport. I am a second yr season ticket holder from minden La. and have been a fan since my dad took me to his buddies house to watch games since i was six. (im 27)


I have a bad feeling deuce may not be with us much longer if he doesnt continue to play at a high level. I will give you my reasons and would love to get you feedback. (I am a huge fan and dont want to loose deuce but hears my points.

(1) the drafting of pittman. Now this all depends on if pittman can prove he can be a inside effective runner IF he can. Because we got him in the forth round, we will have him at a cheap price for a few yrs depending on his progression.

(2) the grant signing. although im glad we got grant signed, because of the big #, its going to make smiths price even more. Maybe 6 yrs 70 million.

(3) others to sign and current big contracts brees -6 yrs 60 million
grant 7 yrs 63 million
bush 6 yrs 62 million
smith ?
colston- wont play long under
small contract
brown-will want huge money and
teams will willing fork over the
dough
(4) deuce carries a huge number left on his new deal and has had one major injury and a history of many.

(5) although payton loves having a back with deuces talent and ability for a inside bruiser, I get the feeling his long term plan will be to get a poor mans deuce alla pittman and use his big cap number in other places.

just my opinion on the way I see the future playing out, what do you guys think?

this is the take
 

Pittman cant hold Deuce's Jock, (at the moment).
He will be a good 3rd back but thats it.
He comes from a week Big Ten. And those lineman were opening holes
granny could push her own wheelchair through.
Its a money move and also a fresher pair of legs. Steckler was not able
to do a lot because of limited ability but Pittman at a younger age will
be servicable for insurance purposes and possible trade bait in 2 years

First, welcome to the board.

Second, I don't see Deuce leaving anytime soon. Sure there's a lot of money flowing around but the salary cap goes up each year.

As for Pittman, I see him as a third down back and a breather for Deuce and Reggie. Pittman has a lot to prove in the NFL. He hasn't even played the first play yet. From what I saw last year at training camp, he might not even make the team. I think he will but you never know.

Welcome to the true BLACK & GOLD NATION. First of all, the Deuce is not going anywhere, I repeat ANYWHERE! If anything C. Grant would be the logical choice, just hear me out. Let's start with one of the best DE in Saints history, Pat Swilling, he begot Renaldo Turnbull which in turn begot Joe Johnson which brought fourth Darren Howard who sprung fourth Charles Grant, and last but definitely not lest we have Will Smith. See the pattern? Every one of those guys signed huge contracts and when the second guy in line signed his the first guy eventually ended up somewhere else. I'm not saying that that is going to happen, but the pattern is definitely there.

P.S. Forgive me for the biblical text, but the GREYGOOSE got me buzzin', and if I left any of our awesome DE's out, I apologize

Deuce is safe for a maxium of two years with us to me. He's starting to age and will want big bucks. We cannot have two Franchise RBs on our team, and one will have to go. Likely Deuce, he'll go for something, that'll give us some cap room

First, he's 28, the prime of most RB's careers.

2nd, they are completely different backs, and no way Pittman is ready for Deuce's workload in 2008. Do we really want Reggie running between the tackles, taking all of those hits for 4 yards?

3rd Deuce isn't Bentley, Howard, or Horn. He has roots in NO (Emeril just gave his foundation $500,000) and a sense of loyalty. He knows his role and is a class act.

Wait and see. I do not think Pittman is going to hurt Duce at all. We needed a RB for the rotation. Pittman fell into our laps. Why would the saints weaken a rotation that needed to upgrade? Besides with the cap increase over the next few years make his contract less of an issue. We looked at the figures when he signed and thought it was a lot. But looking into the future now it is not so bad. Just like Grants. You have have to get over the loaded front ends first. Next year is going to be interest with all the FA we are going to have.
FA in 2008
QB - Jamie Martin
RB - Aaron Stecker
FB - Keith Joseph signed or exclusive-rights
WR - Devery Henderson
WR - Terrance Copper RFA
WR - Jamal Jones signed or exclusive-rights
TE - Billy Miller
TE - Eric Johnson
TE - John Owens Signed or Exclusive Rights
C/G - Jonathan Goodwin
G - Jamar Nesbit
G - Augie Hoffman signed or exclusive rights
T - Rob Petitti signed or exclusive rights
T - Chad Setterstrom signed or exclusive rights
DT - Brian Young
DT - Rodney Leisle RFA
DE - Charles Grant 2007 Franchise Tag
DE - Josh Cooper signed or exclusive rights
MLB - Mark Simoneau
SLB - Alfred Fincher
CB - DeJuan Groce
CB - Fred Thomas
S - Steve Gleason

2009 FA
WR - Marques Colston
TE - Mark Campbell
RT - Jon Stinchcomb
RT - Zach Strief
OG - Jahri Evans
DE - Rob Ninkovich
DT - Willie Whitehead
DT - Antwan Lake
CB - Jason Craft
KR - Michael Lewis
P - Steve Weatherford

2012 will be Big bucks
QB - Drew Brees
RB - Reggie Bush
LT - Jammal Brown

Oh yeah welcome visegripp

Pittman was selected because of his value on the board at the time and the fact that Stecker is getting up there in age.

Neither Pittman or Bush could take the pounding like Deuce can. Deuce is our every down back.

Isn't Deuce signed until 2011?

Welcome to the BlackandGold Vise.....

IMO Deuce isn't going to leave the Saints anytime soon, Pittman will never be an every down back, something you must have in the NFL, as said Bush can't take the punishment by playing every down where Deuce has proved that he can..
Coach Payton knows a good thing when he sees it, we all know that Deuce plays a huge part in the Saints success , Saints camp will figure out a way to hold on to the Deuce..

If you have any questions vise about the site please ask...

I belive Deuce's contract runs through 2012. So even if we traded him after the '09 season, the Saints would take a $5.4M cap hit at $1.8M per season signing bonus.

I would guess that Deuce i not going anywhere for a long, long time.

I don't think Deuce is going anywhere soon, but I do see some valid points on why he may. Maybe not so much his age, but as far as seasons played he is starting to get up there. The career of a RB is usually short. He could very well have just another season or two before he is either out of the league or possibly being a role player. Hopefully he can go strong for another 5 or 6 years, but it would go against some pretty big odds. In no way do I see Pittman as taking over for him, I see Pittman strictly as a possible replacement for Aaron Stecker. The most interesting thing is to see if the Saints will shift more of the load to Reggie Bush. Maybe Reggie Bush will always be that "specialist" type of guy, but you never know. I am not sure how long Bush will be content with his role. All RB' s want to have that chance to carry the load. Hopefully everyone will be happy and we can win a couple superbowls...

Bottom line, deuce will have to take a pay cut. But if there's anyone that will it's him. He's got his dealerships in Jackson and various ventures in MS and LA, plus he likes going home to Morton on off days. More importantly, I think Deuce (unlike Horn) loves the saints and the fans almost as much as we love him, and he realizes that he can go down as the face of the francise. Maybe even a FO job in the future.

I predict he sticks around and takes a cut in pay in a few years coupled with a gradual transfer of carring duties to Reggie.