Good Job front office!

seraph33 · 03-05-2004, 04:34 PM

With the Saints organization listing its problems to be addressed as CB, LB, and DT and this having been a good year for free agent CB, we managed to sign . . . a back-up RB.
Yes it was a need; however, the top FA CB's are all gone. Antoine Winfield - Vikings, Ahmad Plummer - 49ers, Fernando Bryant - Lions, Shawn Springs - the Evil Empire (Redskins) . . . all gone, and the Saints failed to make a significant play for any of them. True Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor (the 2 Eagles) are still on the board however they are 32 and 31 respectively and want the same amount of money that we were apparently unwilling to give the younger guys listed above. Basically by signing either of those 2 guys we are paying big money for a player that will only decline while wearing a Saints uniform. In the meantime we did overpay to keep our own Fred Thomas, who will be 31 this season. Now I like Thomas, he plays with a lot of heart but is flat out overwhelmed when you put him up against a top notch WR. What we really have is a nickel back playing starter. To me this just sends the signal that the Saints are satisfied with our Defense the way it is. They haven't gotten the DT that they were supposed and are now looking at Cedric Woodard who Scouts Inc. has rated as an "Adequate Backup".

This really frustrates me b/c we have MULTIPLE needs on the defensive side of the ball and the Saints are acting like there is just one and they can address that in the draft. We really lost an opportunity to upgrade our secondary with a talented Free Agent CB and focus our draft pick on getting a MLB (Jonathan Vilma), OLB (D.J. Williams), DT (Vince Wilfolk or Randy Starks) or even steal an awesome WR (there are so many good one that one is bound to fall in the first round). Instead the Saints aren't going to solve anything through free agency so we will only be able to address 1 maybe 2 positions adequately through the draft but lose the ability to draft the best player on the board. If they want to have the Patriots' approach then that is fine but in order for that to work you need EXCELLENT coaching and schemes, of which we have neither.

03-05-2004, 04:34 PM	#1
seraph33 Registered Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 68	Good Job front office! With the Saints organization listing its problems to be addressed as CB, LB, and DT and this having been a good year for free agent CB, we managed to sign . . . a back-up RB. Yes it was a need; however, the top FA CB's are all gone. Antoine Winfield - Vikings, Ahmad Plummer - 49ers, Fernando Bryant - Lions, Shawn Springs - the Evil Empire (Redskins) . . . all gone, and the Saints failed to make a significant play for any of them. True Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor (the 2 Eagles) are still on the board however they are 32 and 31 respectively and want the same amount of money that we were apparently unwilling to give the younger guys listed above. Basically by signing either of those 2 guys we are paying big money for a player that will only decline while wearing a Saints uniform. In the meantime we did overpay to keep our own Fred Thomas, who will be 31 this season. Now I like Thomas, he plays with a lot of heart but is flat out overwhelmed when you put him up against a top notch WR. What we really have is a nickel back playing starter. To me this just sends the signal that the Saints are satisfied with our Defense the way it is. They haven't gotten the DT that they were supposed and are now looking at Cedric Woodard who Scouts Inc. has rated as an "Adequate Backup". This really frustrates me b/c we have MULTIPLE needs on the defensive side of the ball and the Saints are acting like there is just one and they can address that in the draft. We really lost an opportunity to upgrade our secondary with a talented Free Agent CB and focus our draft pick on getting a MLB (Jonathan Vilma), OLB (D.J. Williams), DT (Vince Wilfolk or Randy Starks) or even steal an awesome WR (there are so many good one that one is bound to fall in the first round). Instead the Saints aren't going to solve anything through free agency so we will only be able to address 1 maybe 2 positions adequately through the draft but lose the ability to draft the best player on the board. If they want to have the Patriots' approach then that is fine but in order for that to work you need EXCELLENT coaching and schemes, of which we have neither.