Saints talked to Booty
 

Word is that saints coaches and scouts have interest in the QB from USC.....Makes sense.There is not much after Drew.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

I'm disappointed. That's time the coaching staff wasted instead of finding a way to make the defense better.

Drew Brees has taken every significant snap for this team the last 2 years. No backup in the world can do what he does. Everyone keeps crapping on Martin. But the last time he was in for significant minutes (for the Rams like 3 years ago) the guy went something like 5-1.

We already have a young QB on the roster. One that actually has a year of experience on the practice squad.

So again if the staff isn't evaluating DT, LB, CB, or S, then they are just wasting everyone's time.

Sigh.

SFIAH

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Relax my brother in the ATL... There's not much to talk about until we sign some FA's. And until then they're just trying to make some headlines... ;)

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Even if there is nothing to talk about, we should be talking about defense. The staff should be working on defense. The fans should be thinking about defense.

Every day in this forum there's some thread about some need on offense. We need a tight end, or a #2 receiver, or a backup QB, or yet another RB. You'd think that the offense stank up the joint in 2007.

The stats do not bear that out. The offense from 2006 to 2007 scored 34 less points (2.1 pts less per game) 4 less TDs, same number of turnovers.

The defense? Sheesh. In 2006 they were already giving up 20 points a game. This year they gave up 64 points more (4 PPG). They had 6 less turnovers than in 2006. 54 plays of 20 yards or more? Are you kidding me! They gave up 32 TD passes! That's 2 per game.

The defense was awful! AWFUL!

So even the idlest of idle Saints fans minds should be working on fixing the defense. And only the defense.

The only thing the offense needs to work on is cutting down on the turnovers. And frankly there's only one guy that can do that: Drew Brees. Dude threw 18 picks. The offense needs to cut that in half. But he's the only one that can do it.

I've changed my signature for the offseason. I want everyone in Saints Land thinking about defense. A free agent period focused on defense. A draft on defense. An entire organization with a sole defensive goal in mind.

The offense we have right now can win the SuperBowl with no changes. None.

It's the defense that's the problem. Everyone should be focused on fixing it.

SFIAH

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

AMEN SFIAH!!!!

Preach on Brother!

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Investing a late round pick in a quarterback to develop would be wise. The defense needs a ton of help, but you can't completely ignore of other side of the ball. What happens if our defense takes a step forward and our offense takes two steps back... we're screwed. Look at some of the premiere offensive teams... they continue to add weapons yearly to insure their offense stays where it is.

The front office needs to make sure we draft a bulk of defensive players in this draft... and continue to provide Brees weapons and protection to make sure he stays successful.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Great point Papz! Can you imagine if Drew went down with injury?

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

When is Booty projected to be picked?

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

As of right now I think he's projected to go in the third... I wouldn't pick him up though. I think he's a career backup with limited upside.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Didn't we already do this with Palko? Doesn't the guy already have a year in the Saints' system under his belt?

Why draft yet another low round QB to develop when we have one already?

But you have to analyze why the offense would take two steps back. That answer is pretty simple: injuries, specifically to Brees. If that unfortunate event were to happen, how would a low drafted rookie help the situation? Like I said in my previous post, Martin is going into his 3rd year here in our system, and has over a dozen years in the league under his belt. The last time he had true backup duty for the Rams, he did fine. We already have Palko, who may be ready to step up.

The offense only dropped off a slight bit last year (500 yards, 4 TDs, 34 points, same number of turnovers). And that was in the face of injuries large and small in both the backs and receivers.

We haven't even seend the offensive redshirt class of the 2007 Draft. The reload personnel is already on staff.

Resign our own free agents. That's the key.

We have 3 or 4 potential starters on the offensive line sitting on the bench (Strief, Allenman, Goodwin, Bushrod). Same with the #2 receiver. The team carried 5 TE last year. Our #4 RB torched the Bears for over 200 total yards.

On offense we have weapons, protection, and backups. Look at how well the offense did with little substantive changes from 2006.

Honestly, how many new offensive starters do we need? On the defense most would say that at most we have 5 starters (Smith, Grant, Thomas, Fujita, Harper)

Defense needs 6 starters and decent backups. Offense needs none. I wonder where the focus should be.

I wouldn't even bother with churn on the offensive side of the ball. Even if the offense dropped to the middle of the pack in terms of scoring (unlikely) with a top 10 scoring defense, the team would still go far into the playoffs.

Defense wins championships. Offense entertains fans.

Which do you want: entertainment or a championship?

SFIAH

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

No rookie nor veteran backup could do anything about that. We'd instantly be the Carolina Panthers from last year.

Anyone QB who has anything close to Brees' talent and leadership is a starting QB in this league. The days of Montana starting with Young as his backup are over. Both examples of this last year (Carr in Carolina, Harrington in Atlanta) were terrible failures.

Anyway even if that were the case, no rookie could come in and do better than the two backup QBs we already have on staff.

With the exception of Brady, all current successful QBs in the league are top draft picks.

This year isn't the year to try to figure out who Brees replacement is going to be. Do that next year.

SFIAH

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco has been looking good.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Flacco, reminds me of the "Replacements" movie. Shane Falco.

But seriously, I too have heard some good talk about Flacco.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Palko was an undrafted free agent that spent the bulk of the year on our practice squad. So really, we didn't do that last year... but Palko does have a year under his belt understanding our system.

Up top.

Colston was a low round drafted rookie as was Jahari Evans. Jamie Martin is also a free agent.

And to insure we can maintain that level of success... we need to continue to add weapons. Standing still and expecting it to stay the same wouldn't be smart. Should the offense not be effective as it has been the last couple of years, all you are going to hear is "I can't believe we didn't draft or sign any more weapons for Brees last offseason".


We don't really know that do we...

Which would be wise considering the lack of depth we have with all the free agents.

And if they're all flops?

We didn't win the Superbowl... there's room for improvement everywhere on our team.... not just our defense.

Probably 2 or 3... #2 WR, OG, and TE. Plenty on defense which is pretty obvious.

Which is incorrect.

Agreed... and whoever scores the most points wins too. We're both going to keep on saying the same thing.

We have 7 draft picks... it wouldn't kill anyone to select one or two offensive players I wouldn't think. You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think we're going to go defense with all 7 picks.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Going with all 7 defensive picks would be a moronic mistake. Offensive guys will be picked up at least by the 3rd. We will pick up a WR/RB, you can bank on that. there are too many good "O" guys out there to just pass up on.

I do hope they make the first two guys "D" players.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

As I would also. I'm watching the Senior Bowl and Keith Rivers looks very very good. Also that Cromartie kid some were talking about has outstanding recovery speed.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Booty would be great in our system

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

I've talked up Cromartie coming into the Senior Bowl. Like his athleticism and skills.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Mayock is all over Cromartie also. If we land Rivers and Cromartie with our first two picks, I'd be pretty darn happy.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Does anyone know how to get the board to keep all the quotes in a thread instead of just the last set of quotes?

I'm copying and pasting into the Quick reply box. But I then have to requote everything.

Do you really expect to carry a rookie QB on the squad? Or to bump Martin for one?

At the very least let's see if there's actually a reliable veteran backup QB out there if that's the goal.

We're talking about the QB position here. Even top first round picks struggle.

I know we're talking about a clipboard holder. However, the point of the backup QB is to be able to effectively hold the fort should the general go down.

I just can't see how a rookie can accomplish that.

But maybe I'm wrong. Look at Trent Edwards for the Bills.


But where do the weapons fit. You have a back rotation with Bush, Stecker, PT, and presumably Deuce if he recovers in time. You have a receiver corps with Colston, Meachum, Moore, hopefully Patton, and maybe Copper. I figure someone's going to pay Henderson and hopes that he breaks out. You have tight ends out the ying yang.

So again where do the weapons fit. Yet another #1 TE? Sit Meachum for another year? Cut Patton's playing time?

Why restock what is already well stocked?

We don't know about free agents or new draft picks either. Remember that Jason David was supposed to be the perfect #2 CB to pair up with MacKenzie.

You never know. You need to scout and draft outstanding players then put them in positions to win. If we doubt the redshirt class of 2007, then why did we draft them?


Now of course if we lose a key free agent, there needs to be a replacement plan. Here's the list of our current free agents and my expectation of their eventual status:

STARTERS

WR David Patten: RESIGN

TE Eric Johnson: RESIGN

C Jeff Faine: RESIGN or replace with Goodwin

G Jamar Nesbit: Let go and replaced by Allenman

DT Brian Young: Let go. Area of need to be filled in FA or draft

LB Mark Simoneau: Good riddance!

RESERVES

QB Jamie Martin: Resigned

RB Aaron Stecker: Resigned

WR Devery Henderson: Released and replaced by Meachum

WR Terrance Copper: Resigned I hope.

TE Billy Miller: Resigned.

C Jonathan Goodwin: Resigned.

DE Josh Cooper: resign

DE Renaldo Wynn: unsure

LB Matt McCoy: Who?

CB Fred Thomas: Released. Replaced by Young

S Jay Bellamy: Resigned I hope.

S Steve Gleason: Released unfortunately

K Martin Gramatica: Resigned. Mare is cut.

Now again obviously if we lose a major number of free agents on the offensive side of the ball we'll have to look to replace them.

Then we get what we deserve. Championship teams are built in the draft. If a players that you draft don't make the cut, then the organization is doomed to fail anyway.

Everything I have read or heard points to the draft class of 2007 being really good. Young has shown promise. The offensive linemen have been reported as solid. Meachum's status all hinges on the health of his knee. But the Saints knew that when they drafted him.

If you can trust your draft picks, then you've got bigger problems.


We didn't win the superbowl because we don't have a championship defense. So of course it gets back to my point: Solidify the defense. Spend as little resources as possible on the offensive side of the ball to maintain. Sign our own free agents on offense then leave it alone.

This pattern isn't forever. Next year you can restock the offense if you like as long as the defense rises to the top 10 in scoring defense. It'll be harder then because then you'll be back to picking late in the rounds.


[Quote]Probably 2 or 3... #2 WR, OG, and TE. Plenty on defense which is pretty obvious.[quote]

#2 WR: Meachum
OG: Allenman
TE: Johnson/Miller just like last year.

Hmmm. Seems to me that you play your current draft picks and resign your free agents, then offense will be quite fine.


Of course we agree to disagree here. I believe that each of the offensive positions you think we need filled already have folks who were on our staff last year. I don't think we currently have on our staff the DT, 2 LBs, 2 CBs, and the safety (well maybe the safety, maybe) that we need to field a competitive defense.

See my signature. Some of the most prolific offenses in the NFL never got a sniff of the superbowl.

I know we'll both keep saying the same thing. But I think it's fine because everyone on the board will hear and understand both sides of the argument

I know it won't happen. By the time the draft comes around there may be a BPA situation that fills an offensive need. But it shouldn't occur until the 4th round or later.

But you are going to continue to be disappointed if you think that we can get to a consistent championship level of play by improving the offense. Offenses falter in the face of good defenses. See our own Saints over the last two years as a perfect example.

You need a solid defense to complement your offense. The defense can't be in the high 20s in scoring and giving up a ton of TDs and long pass plays. Your defense cannot have terrible efficiency on third down. It damages your offense because it flips the field position or yields points.

I'm fine with whatever is necessary to keep the offense stable. But nothing more than that. The positions you want filled we already have the personnel to do. Do you really think we'll lose both Johnson and Miller to FA?

Focus on the defense. And that means don't waste time talking to a clipboard holder.

SFIAH

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Geez that looks very long. I manually quote things... so it's a long process for everyone. PM Halo and make a suggestion to him... he's always looking for a way to make the site better.

I wouldn't bump Martin off the squad for a rookie quarterback... but then again, Martin isn't on the team right now. My first choice would be to sign Josh McCown or re-sign Jamie Martin... but I wouldn't mind taking a quarterback in the later rounds and attempt to develop that person for the future.

I got a little mixed up there. I was talking about offensive prospects in general as you were talking about quarterbacks.

Until these players are re-signed, our offense is not stocked. What tight ends? What wide receivers? And even if they're re-signed, we still need to bring in competition to push those players. We cannot be content... there's always room for quality playmakers.

But see I agree with everything you're saying about our defense... I just hope you acknowledge that our offense does have holes that need to be addressed. If we aren't going to do it via free agency, we need to address it thru the draft. It's a very deep class of talented receivers and I'm hoping we snag one in the mid rounds after we address our defense first.

There we go... agreed. =] However I'd consider using a third.

Not disagreeing with you... if order for our team to make it to a Superbowl, no doubt our defense needs to catch up to our offense. That still doesn't change my mind about our offense also needing an upgrade. We can't expect to win solely by out scoring our opponents... we need help from the defense... which we badly need to upgrade.



I think we'll choose not to re-sign one of them. I think our TE's need an upgrade... we don't have enough explosiveness out of that position. Whether thru the draft or free agency, we need to get younger and more athletic here imo.

Definitely should focus on the defense... but it doesn't mean we should completely ignore getting someone to hold that clipboard. Right now, there's no one there.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

boy oh boy you two are having a ball with the quotes. LOL
Booty in the fourth or maybe in the top of the fifth.
All I can say is smoke screen?

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

I'm with you 100 % on those two. Would be a big help.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

Even if we drafted a QB it wouldn't be until the 6th or 7th round, maybe the 5th.

Re: Saints talked to Booty
 

I know the offense can and should be improved. So take a QB if that's really the best option. But I guess what we're really discussing here is whether a QB really IS the best option.

I tend to agree with others on this board who say QB is not the best option. Why? Because I think there's too many other positions that need upgrade and/or backups, and that they should take precedence over another backup quarterback - AT THIS POINT IN TIME. Even if we're just talking about a 5th or a 6th.

Look, we all know Brees won't be in his prime forever. So I say make a Superbowl run NOW. Put almost all resource we have into improving it defense.

QB? Yes, sure, we need another one. But get a QB next year - or even the next. Right now, let's make a SB run with Brees.