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Two Sides To Every Story

from http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index...2114287680.xml

Jake Delhomme plays in the Super Bowl today. Aaron Brooks' Saints have failed to make the playoffs three years running. Many frustrated fans want to know whether the Saints let the wrong guy get away.

"Jake Delhomme's magical run to the Super Bowl has stirred the ire of Saints fans far and wide. But to equate his success with the Saints' failures this season is at best misguided and at worst foolish.

It's a favorite pastime for frustrated Saints fans to point out their former players who have gone on to good careers elsewhere. But their memories are selective. They seldom recall the ones that left and fizzled. (See: defensive end Joe Johnson, linebacker Keith Mitchell, cornerback Alex Molden, etc.)

Fact is, that is the reality of the NFL today.

The NFL salary cap is both beauty and beast. It creates the parity that makes each season fresh and different. It also creates the annual roster churn that prevents stability and continuity.

Every team in the league suffers that fate.

Think fans in San Diego aren't wondering why Rodney Harrison is starring for the Patriots' defense this season? Or that Redskins fans aren't wondering how Stephen Davis got away to Carolina?

The difference is those two players were released. Delhomme left New Orleans as an unrestricted free agent.

The decision really was out of the Saints' hands. Certainly, the Saints could have tried to match the offer Carolina gave Delhomme, but that would have been financially irresponsible. And it probably wouldn't have been enough. Because they couldn't offer him the one thing he valued most: a starting job.

That job belongs to Aaron Brooks, who just happened to enjoy the best season by a Saints quarterback in franchise history last season. I won't bore you with his numbers, but let's just say they were good. Very good. "

Two Sides To Every Story

You can go to the link to read the rest. Somebody posted an article that was on nola.com right next to this one. I just figured I would post this article to be fair and balanced
I hate to see this forum turn into a Carolina Panthers fan site.

[Edited on 2/2/2004 by JOESAM2002]

Two Sides To Every Story

Quote:

Like it or not, the Saints married themselves to Brooks when they handed him a six-year, $36 million contract in August 2002. They are paying him $6 million a year. You don\'t sit $6 million men on the bench. Just like you don\'t buy the priciest filet you can find and let it rot in the freezer.

If the club traded or released Brooks, it would incur an immediate $7.9 million hit on the salary cap. That\'s prohibitive.

Well , I guess that cap hit would have been contingent on the exact time in which Brooks could have been released .

Something the author of the article failed to mention ... ;)

The New Orleans Saints stepped up Friday and gave quarterback Aaron Brooks a six-year, $36 million contract extension.

The deal included a $5 million signing bonus.

Brooks, who was the Saints\' quarterback during the team\'s first playoff victory, is entering his second full season as the starter. The Saints had been talking about a $30 million deal, but Patriots quarterback Tom Brady signed a four-year, $30 million contract to raise the stakes.

Included in the Brooks deal is a $5.75 million option bonus in 2003.