Another word on Sharper. I think the Saints made an incredibly wise choice in not franchising him. The fact that he hasn't visited any other teams, and no one has really even sniffed him tells you all you need to know. A 35 year old safety isn't worth $6MM next year and is not really even worth a 2 year deal at this point in his career. I think if he sees this eventually he will sign a 1 year deal in the $3MM range with us, but he had to go test the market to understand that he is better off taking it year by year with us in a system that has Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter protecting his backside than he is signing with an also ran and going back to a Cover 2 where his weaknesses are exposed.

One last thing on Sharper. I love the guy, but let's take a look at who he got is 9 picks on last year.

2 INT's against Matthew Stafford, making his first career NFL start
1 INT against Kevin Kolb, making his first career NFL start
2 INT's against Mark Sanchez, making his 4th career NFL start
1 INT against Matt Ryan, in his second NFL season
1 INT against Tom Brady, when the Patriots where in full pass come from behind mode
1 INT against Josh Freeman, making his 15th career NFL start.

With the exception of Ryan and Brady, who I classify as excellent competition, Sharper feasted on Rookies and Second year QB's and I would say was pedestrian at best against quality QB's in the playoffs. I would actually classify his play in the playoffs as poor. 10 solo tackles and 1 Pass Defensed total against Arizona, Minny, and Indy combined.

I understand what you are saying, but, at the same time, other safeties in the NFL also played against rookies, first-time starters, and teams coming from behind during the regular season, and they didn't intercept 9 balls and scored 3 TDs.

As for Sharper's playoff performance, first, the playoff teams made it to the playoffs because they don't make many mistakes to begin with. And, a lot of times you really can't argue just numbers when talking defense. For example, Tracy Porter made 2 crucial interceptions and scored a TD in the playoffs and SB, and Greer made none. So who had the better run? Sure Tracy made 2 heady plays in reading the QBs and routes and his highlights were all over ESPN and the NFL Network, but the opposing QB's reluctance to throwing the ball to Greer's side gave Tracy the opportunity to make those plays. So just like shying away from Greer, Warner, Farve, Manning, they probably also shied away from Sharper because they knew of his skills, and thus giving Tracy the chance to become the Legend Slayer ..

I know for a fact that both Greer and Porter are EXCELLENT players and both had fantastic postseasons. I also know that our pass Defense dropped from 9th to 23rd in pass defense rankings when they were both out. It's the exact reason why I think Sharper is overated. Without Porter, Greer, and Gay in the lineup Sharper is not the same player. They make him better, not the other way around.

Without Porter, Greer, and Gay in the lineup Sharper is not the same player. They make him better, not the other way around.

I think it is a two way street. It takes a good 5 players to make a good secondary. But yes our corners did help Sharper quite a bit. And our corners were helped by having Sharper instead of Kaesviharn behind them.

I know for a fact that both Greer and Porter are EXCELLENT players and both had fantastic postseasons. I also know that our pass Defense dropped from 9th to 23rd in pass defense rankings when they were both out. It's the exact reason why I think Sharper is overated. Without Porter, Greer, and Gay in the lineup Sharper is not the same player. They make him better, not the other way around.

But, dude, you take both the starting corners out, especially the type of corners Jabari and Tracy are, and then put a combination of Usama-Jenkins-Gay playing corner, of course your pass defense is going to suffer, regardless of who plays FS for you. None of the replacements at CB can cover routes or re-route receivers like Jabari and Tracy can.

I don't know if Sharper is over-rated or not, or who is over-rating him, but compared against the other FSs in the league, he made the plays when he had the opportunity and the others didn't. That's it.

How much he gets paid, that's not for me to decide. It is not my money, but I am not going to say he does or doesn't deserve a certain amount of money because he plays with better corners or worse corners.