darren howard
 

are the saints gonna franchise tag him or allow him to hit free agency?

darren howard
 

If they can\'t reach agreement I think they franchise him.
No way he hits free-agency.
Unfortunately, most of the free agents we\'re targeting will never hit the market either.
I think the only way to land a big name free agent nowadays in the NFL is to grossly overpay for them.

darren howard
 

Nah - target the ones that hit early and put up some realistic money. Quarles, Spikes, Colvin, Claiborne - those were some good LBs that hit last season and I\'m forgetting about half of them.

It\'s hard to get a Charles Woodson type player, but there are a lot of very good players who hit the market. Of course you have to pay for them, but...

darren howard
 

Depends who you ask :

21.) DE Darren Howard Current Team: Saints Free Agent Status: UFA 2004 Team Projection: Seahawks

http://qisports.com/freeagentprojections.html

darren howard
 

Well, I guess if he goes at least we still have Whitehead. Howard is a freak and maybe the second best football player on our team behind Deuce and I would hate to see him go. However, IF he does, I\'m not too unhappy with Whitehead ASSUMING we pick up another DT to play along side Sullivan. Whitehead\'s gotta have like 5% body fat. The guy is a specimen and he played like a freak for a while early this season before Howard came back. I want Howard, but if he goes I don\'t think we lose as much as we would at other positions if we lost starters. Whitehead could start a lot of places in this league, if you ask me.

darren howard
 

I agree with Whodat on this one!

I think the Howard is a key to our being dominant both in rushing the passer and stopping the run, but Whitehead is awesome too. I\'m glad we retained him this year.

I also agree that the only way that Howard matters over Whitehead is if we add a fourth quality lineman at DT. If we don\'t, then I think that Howard\'s impact is diminished greatly and we may as well go with Whitehead who will be cheaper and can do well in Howard\'s stead. If we are going to go for a quality DT, then why would we pass up a chance to have a dominant front four (which was clearly a key for the two Superbowl teams this year)? Our chances are only seriously improved with Howard if we get the interior some help to get him some extra time (and free him up) to rush the passer.

darren howard
 

Are you thinking about Grant? You said the same thing a few times in your post, just scripted differently, but I do not see the logic in this statement, if you are in fact referring to Howard and not Grant. Can you tell me why that we would need a dominant DT next to Sully in order for Howard to be effective? He plays against the run as well as he does against the pass, and especially better against the run than Whitehead. Not trying to be a smartass, I just don\'t understand your statement.
I mean, yeah, having good players next to you will help anyone, that\'s just common sense, but I don\'t see where not having that extra dominant DT would diminish his role any.

[Edited on 4/2/2004 by BlackandBlue]

darren howard
 

I think that question was directed at JKool, no?

I think a better DY next to Howard helps, but my point was simply that if we are going to lose Howard, at least we have Whitehead, who is pretty decent too. Could be worse is what I\'m trying to say.

darren howard
 

It was directed at JKool

I guess this is the quote I found most troubling. Whitehead is good, not to take anything away from him, but he is not Darren Howard- he does not have the stamina that Howard has to play consistently over a full season and does not have the combination of speed and strength to play strong side end as effective as Howard. Howard, when healthy, can be one of the best all around ends in the league, not just pass rush, like Grant, which is the reason I thought he might have meant Grant in the first place.
And stating that having a dominant DT helps the other defensive linemen is like saying that having a dominant fullback makes your running back play better, or having a dominant QB makes your wide receivers play better- common sense.

[Edited on 4/2/2004 by BlackandBlue]

darren howard
 

I agree - although it is interesting that you say that Howard has the stamina to play over a full season - he hasn\'t done that in the last two. The thing that worries me is he will be expensive, he is already good, they have a suitable replacement, and he has been injury prone of recent. I don\'t want to lose this guy, but I can see Haslett giving him the walking papers.