No one else wants his overpriced a**, so it's restructure or hit the road.

As for the rest.....Ellis takes a pay cut or hits the road, too. he hasn't impressed since being drafted. Greer stays. He's solid in all aspects at CB. Jenkins......well.....one more year. Robinson......with help could be really good. Porter.....Haven't seen him make a play since the Super Bowl......see ya. Vilma......same as Jenkins.......one more year. Shanle.....has already been here 3 years too long.

Might be no other team would want him, he surely doen't deserve the money he is getting. I really don't know if I would offer him back-up money to stay. Pay the money to someone else that actually deserves it. Same for Vilma they both need to be humbled and Ellis to.

We better hope that some other team wants him if the Saints end up cutting him!

Many seem to forget that it is not free to cut players and also cutting many players while they still have multiple years to go on their contracts doesn't really send a positive message to potential FA signings - it says that the Saints' organization does not honor the contracts they make with players.

Finding a way through negotiations which will both benefit the Saints' organization, but also the individual players is the key, and if that is done in a civil and reasonable way - I see no problems with the Saints being able to field a good outfit on the D next season.

It also says....if you do not play up to your contract, you could be looking for a job.....something I'm okay with.

But if that is the concern, why aren't the contracts more incentive based in the first place, which would in effect make the players earn their extra salary through performance?

Because Master P isn't writing up contracts anymore! C'mon, Fin,.....everybody knows that. :-)

And it probably makes it impossible to plan for next years cap, since contracts would be too variable.

Not at the expense of Colston and Nicks...

Not sure how any of those guys other than Smith have any effect at all on keeping Colston/Nicks.

And Franklin's a free agent, he's basically already cut.

I wouldn't be totally against seeing Franklin return to the black & gold.

I think he had a hard time adjusting to being a DT in a base 4-3 coming from being a NT in 3-4 system, but he has skills and the ability to be dominant and maybe Spags can get that potential to show up on the field.

The reason why I say this is that he might be available for cheap, because there were not a lot of competition to sign him during last FA period - it came down to him basically re-signing with the SF or signing with the Saints. After the disappointing season he had, it's hard for me to see him getting more attention this time around.

He might be willing to sign another 1-year deal maybe in the $2.5-3M range, which wouldn't totally break the bank while adding a solid performer and creating depth.

Franklin's 2011 cap hit was $4M and if I remember correctly Rogers' cap hit was a touch over $4M - if Frankin re-signed for $3M, that would still leave $5M to try and sign another DT while keeping the DT cap hit the same.