i'd love to see meachem go...i'm on the fence about vilma, though i've loved the guy...he has semi-disappeared the past 2 seasons.

shanle is a MUST go...it's hard to say who should go on offense...i think colston will be harder to replace than you all seem to think.

Well IF you had to let one of the following go, who would you let go? I doub we can keep all 4.

Brees
Nicks
Greer
Colston

Of those 4, as much as I hate to say it, I would let Colston go; and that depends on how much it would cost to keep him.

Great opinions in here. Love what people are saying. We need to be caeful about droppig our offence too much. As much as that may allow us room to improve our defence, it is unlikely to happen overnight and our offence is so potent that it does always give us a chance to make up for the frailty of the defence. So my opinion:

Brees - Would anyone seriously let him go regardless of how much he costs? I hope not!
Nicks - Pay the man. Him and Evans are awesome and they solidify the O-Line. They allow a 'good' centre to be fine and help the tackles to up their game. Bushrod is as good as he is now because of Nicks and Evans. Also, allow our running game to go through the gaps and protect Brees.
Colston - Cheerio. He is going to want good money and we havent got it. Brees can hit many receivers and make them look good. Arrington will step up here and I bet we could get a late draft pick who is ok.

As regards trading. I would look at shipping Shanle and Vilma. Shanle is mediocre at best and Vilma just isnt cutting it any more. Love the guy but time to go. I would lose Tracey Porter as well. Just not doing it for me. Keep Greer and Robinson. Trade Ellis and Will Smith. That should leave us a load of picks and caproom to rebuild the D.

Oh and biggest release. Gregg Williams. 1 good season and it worked. Hasn't since. Goodbye.

We loaded our high power offense with unknown late draft picks and key free agent acquisitions, and that is the only thing we can hope for for our defense. Our money will be tied up keeping the key players on offense on the field, so we don't have a ton of options in big named free agents. We also need a rt and possible a left tackle. I think our problems on D will be addressed by hiring spags or another coordinator simply because we won't have the cash to beef up our D with big dollar names. IM SO ****ING PISSED OFFF!

we have changed up our line mid season. SP seems to have a talent for creating great olinemen...Dont get me wrong, Nicks is AN AWESOME talent, but i see SP being able to find another one and develop him..I mean look what we invested into Kruetz, he leaves and SP solidifies it one week later..Colston CANNOT go..I dont understand why anyone would think he is replaceable. BTW, what changes if Moore had played?

Greer goes, so does any chance of shutting down a teams number one next year.
Brees in an obvious.

sorry but if one has to go , its gotta be Nicks IMO

@Belair57

I think the opinion on Colston is much like your opinion on Nicks. I think it is easier to replace Colston with another target for Brees and than it is for Nicks to be replaced in the O-line. You think the other way round. I just feel Brees can hit ANY target whereas Nicks does SO much that isn't so easily replaced.

All subjective of course. Maybe the answer is letting both go which frees up a lot of cap room.....

kicks cannot go. You saw how drew performed under pressure. Nicks and Evens protect him more than his tackles on the opposite sides due to Brees playing style.Colston is the only receiver we have that is unreplacable. I think Vima, Meach, Henderson and possible Pierre or even Ivory could be a casualty too.

Vilma, Meach or Henderson go before colston goes

Can't afford to lose colston tbh, he's the only guy that shows up week in and week out.

I will give you that my perception may be flawed..and I know most whodats are in favor in Nicks, but who does drew throw to if Colston is gone? Henderson? no, hes no number one.

Who is going over the middle like Colston does? Meachem? uh NO

Moore? he cant stay healthy and its been a trend, AND hes no number 1 either.

Nicks is GREAT, possibly the best in the NFL...but he will want to get paid to..as Colston will want..

Will Smith is the 1st priority IMO..he needs to be GONE..maybe they can make it work, brees will do whats best for the team.

i guess at this point its all just speculation on our parts, but makes for a great discussion none the less