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Updated 03/01/2012
WR [B]Marques Colston[B], Robert Meachem, Adrian Arrington TE Jimmy Graham, David Thomas LT Jermon Bushrod LG Carl Nicks C Brian De La Puente, Matt Tennant RG Jahri Evans RT Zach Strief, Charles Brown FR Lance Moore, Joe Morgan QB Drew Brees, Chase Daniel FB Jed Collins, Korey Hall RB Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory LDE Callais Campbell or Cliff Avril, Jeff Charleston NT Swanson Miller DT Tom Johnson RDE Cam Jordan, Junior Galette, Greg Romeus SLB Martez Wilson, Will Herring MLB Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Ramon Humber, Ezra Butler WLB Wesley Woodyard, Scott Shanle, Jonathan Casillas, Nate Bussey LCB Jabari Greer, Rod Hood SS Roman Harper; Jonathon Amaya FS Malcolm Jenkins; Isa Abdul-Quddus RCB Patrick Robinson, Johnny Patrick P Thomas Morstead K Garrett Hartley LS Justin Drescher |
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A bit thin on the defensive interior - you could at least add Mitch King there, since he was given the futures contract. So, do you think they'll cut Ellis? With the news of Smith and the Saints being engaged in restructuring negotiations, I would think he is probably going to be in next season's roster. I still don't feel comfortable with Dunbar as the starting MLB, but I guess it's better than nothing. Where did you lose Hunter? I think he's a talented prospect, who could work himself into a starting role in a few seasons under the right guidance. What type of money do you think Hood would ask for? You don't think any of the younger TEs make this season's roster? Oh, and you should bolden Daniel as well, since he is a RFA. |
You might as well take Campbell off that list, since he was tagged by the Cards.
On the other hand, 'Skins didn't tag Landry, but instead decided to put it on the TE Davis. |
So, now that Avril and Mathis are tagged as well, there doesn't seem to be many DE upgrades available in the FA pool.
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QB- D.Brees, C. Daniel
RB- M.Ingram, P.Thomas, D.Sproles, C.Ivory FB- J.Collins WR- M.Colston, R.Moss(FA), L.Moore, A.Arrington, G.Childs(R) TE- J.Graham, J.Carlson(FA), D.Thomas LT- J.Bushrod, D.Stephenson(R) LG- C.Nicks, M.Tennant C- DLP, P.Blake(R) RG- J.Evans, D.Wynn(R) RT- Z.Strief, C.Brown RE- W.Smith, W.Mercilus(R), J.Galette DT- S.Ellis, D.Wolfe(R), J.Crick(R), T.Johnson LE- C.Jordan, G.Romeus OLB- M.Wilson, J.Casillas, N.Bussey, R.Humber IBL- J.Vilma, M.Kendricks(R), A.Cole(R) CB- J.Greer, P.Robinson, J.Patrick, R.Brooks(R), L.Torrence FS- M.Jenkins, I.Quddus SS- R.Harper, J.Amaya K- G.Hartley P- T.Moorestead LS- J.Drescher DRAFT 2nd- DE/LB W.Mercilus, 3rd- LB M.Kendricks, 4th- DL J.Crick, 5th- C P.Blake, 6th- DT D.Wolfe, 6th- G D.Wynn, 7th- T D.Stephenson, UD- LB A.Cole, UD- CB R.Brooks, UD- WR G.Childs FREE AGENCY WR R.Moss, TE J.Carlson RESULT 38 straight wins and 2 Super Bowls |
I would be happy with a 13-3 season, homefield a Superbowlwin next year!
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And the Saints don't even have a 1st rounder this year, and they may not have one next year either depending on what Goodell does. I don't think Avril's worth two 1st rounders, I'd place Campbell above Avril in that regard, but I don't know if even he'd be worth two 1st rounders with the additional huge contract he would demand. |
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To be honest I do like the concept of a the franchise trade, it keeps "faces" of franchises with their respectable team for at least one more season, which I think is a good idea.
In baseball for example the Yankees and other bigname programs can buy whoever they want and the other team has no leverage! |
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The only ones who don't like the franchise tags are the players (and maybe their agents). |
Houston released RT Eric Winson...
Tend to think he'd be an upgrade for us... Levi Brown is also set to be released by the Arizona Cardinals... |
2012 New Orleans Saints Depth Chart
This is where we are... Note: Key Free Agent Signing; Key Free Agent Retainer or Acquisition WR Marques Colston, Adrian Arrington, Joe Morgan TE Jimmy Graham, David Thomas LT Jermon Bushrod LG Carl Nicks C Brian De La Puente, Matt Tennant RG Jahri Evans RT Zach Strief, Charles Brown FR Lance Moore, Devery Henderson QB Drew Brees, Chase Daniel FB Jed Collins, Korey Hall RB Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory LDE Will Smith, Turk McBride, Greg Romeus NT DT Sedrick Ellis, Tom Johnson, Mitch King RDE Cam Jordan, Junior Galette SLB Martez Wilson, Will Herring MLB Dan Connor, Ramon Humber, Ezra Butler WLB Wesley Woodyard, Jonathan Casillas, Nate Bussey LCB Jabari Greer; Rod Hood SS Roman Harper; Jonathon Amaya FS Malcolm Jenkins; Isa Abdul-Quddus RCB Patrick Robinson, Johnny Patrick P Thomas Morstead K Garrett Hartley LS Justin Drescher Until Nicks and Brees are done - we just don't know about new acquisitions... It may be Brees is willing to do the hometown discount AFTER Nicks and other acquisitions, including defense, maybe a Right Tackle, are completed... |
2012 New Orleans Saints Depth Chart
This is where we are... Note: Key Free Agent Signing; Key Free Agent Retainer or Acquisition WR Marques Colston, Adrian Arrington, Joe Morgan TE Jimmy Graham, David Thomas LT Jermon Bushrod LG Ben Grubbs C Brian De La Puente, Matt Tennant RG Jahri Evans RT Zach Strief, Charles Brown FR Lance Moore, Devery Henderson QB Drew Brees, Chase Daniel FB Jed Collins, Korey Hall RB Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory LDE Will Smith, Turk McBride, Greg Romeus NT DT Sedrick Ellis, Tom Johnson, Mitch King RDE Cam Jordan, Junior Galette SLB Martez Wilson, Will Herring MLB Curtis Lofton, Ramon Humber, Ezra Butler WLB Erin Henderson, Jonathan Casillas, Nate Bussey LCB Jabari Greer; Rod Hood SS Roman Harper; Jonathon Amaya FS Malcolm Jenkins; Isa Abdul-Quddus RCB Patrick Robinson, Johnny Patrick P Thomas Morstead K John Kasay LS Justin Drescher Nicks is gone - do we see a drop off with Grubbs? Well, now Brees is supposed to be p-o'ed and his agent is Tom Condon, aka Franchise Killer - O'vay... Friday is here - do we learn our fate? With all things considered, is there money still to sign a couple of linebackers and upgrades to the defensive line? What is the deal with Lofton - sincere interest are driving up the price on Atlanta? Really hate the contract for Roman Harper - now were tied to a Gregg Williams' system guy... |
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All good things, I'm still a fan... If so, is Lofton/Hawthorne the solution... Scott Shanle could be a cap casualty - his number this year is 2.95mil per spotrac.com - that should make some of the Shanle haters happy - I think he's been a fine Saint, even if he's not been a ProBowler... Another cap casualty could be Will Herring - his injury time and lack of production along with his cap number 1.73mil this year could expose him; the smart move would be for his agent to redo the contract with incentives, roll the dice and win a Superbowl and hit the market with a ring with two fleur-de-lis on it... Some will be surprised if the Saints part ways with Devery Henderson, especially with the departure of Meachem, but consider depth at the position and his cap number of 3.12mil this year and his limited playing time - expect Devery and the Saints to renegotiate... Still, really hate the contract for Roman Harper - now we're tied to a Gregg Williams' system guy; he'll play another year here at 6.25mil for 2012 then 7mil per annum the following two years - Spagnuolo won't tolerate his poor pass coverage... I'd feel better about Drew's contract if Tom Condon wasn't his agent... One signing that may have slipped under the radar was Eric Olsen, C; I really wanted to draft this guy out of :gulp: Notre Dame; so I've updated the list... We've actually got some good reserve linebackers who need playing time for development (as, I've argued, has been the case of WR Arrington) which may be why the Saints have been "methodical" in their free agency approach... Hopefully, Monday afternoon, I can update this thread with Linebacker and Quarterback positive announcements... Got a feeling the Saints are waiting for the NFL Beatdown announcement so the Saints FO can counter with some FA news... |
QB- Brees, Daniel
HB- Thomas, Ingram, Sproles, Ivory FB- Collins WR- Colston, Moore, Arrington, Streeter(R), Morgan TE- Graham, Thomas, Higgins LT- Bushrod, Stephenson(R) LG- Grubbs, Wynn(R) C- DLP, Tennant RG- Evans RT- Strief, Brown RE- Smith, Galette, Romeus DT- Ellis, Jean-Baptiste(R) DT- Johnson, King LE- Jordan, McBride, Crick(R) OLB- Wilson, Kendricks(R) ILB- Lofton(FA), Bussey, Cole(R) OLB- Woodyard, Casillas CB- Greer, Robinson, Patrick, Brooks(R), Torrence FS- Jenkins, Quddus SS- Harper, Amaya K- Hartley P- Moorestead LS- Drescher Draft 2nd- M. Kyndricks, 3rd- J. Crick, 4th- T. Streeter, 5th- R. Brooks, 6th- D. Wynn, 6th- D. Stephenson, 7th- Jean-Baptiste, UD- A. Cole, UD- D. Thomas, UD- T. Hebert We need help at DT. I'd like to release Ellis and bring in Castillo and Okoye if possible. |
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Okoye is interesting to me as he was quite young when he was drafted; he may offer something... Castillo has injury hx that gives me pause... |
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Kendricks (according to the recent mock draft I've seen) won't still be on the board when the Saints pick (if they pick at all) in the 2nd round. Also, Crick has been climbing some prospect boards, and he might be a mid- to late 2nd rounder. Oh, how I hope Ronnell Lewis would drop down to the Saints, but that is a dream that'll never manifest in the real world. Derek Wolfe is still my #1 draft candidate for DT (for the Saints), and hopefully he could be had in the 4th. I'm also hesitant in regards to Castillo, and don't see him as a viable candidate, Okoye maybe. I still don't get why the Vikes haven't re-signed Erin Henderson, because they've stated it a numerous times that he is someone they'd like to see playing in the purple for years to come?! He'd be a great pick up, but I haven't heard of any news about him visiting any teams, so I have to believe that the Vikes and him are going to work out a deal in the near future. |
Broncos re-signed Woodyard, so he is no longer an upgrade option for the Saints' LB corps.
Maybe they are giving Chamberlain some consideration, because Spags had him for two years in St. Louis, and then either Lofton or Hawthorne to strengthen the MLB position. |
The Saints want Lofton, but his asking price may be higher than what his history and body of work supports...
May have to get creative and add some incentive benchmarks that reflect AllPro (not ProBowl) acheivements and special plays (int's, forced fumbles) - but we'd better be careful and not disclose that or Skip Bayless, Mike Florio, and Peter King might become bothered by this disturbing trend of paying based on performance... |
... there's always Hawthorne ...
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There, I fixed it for ya buddy! ;-) |
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Lofton would look good in black/gold though, and it'd be a nice dig at Atlanta, :mrgreen:. Everyone might have to start looking to the draft to address linebacker issues, cap space and all. |
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Will Aubrayo Franklin be resigned? I sure hope so. Rogers? He'd help. Also, even though FO says both Vilma and Lofton will play alongside each other - don't buy it. Not with Vilma's cap number and pending Goodell Beatdown coming. Are we done at LB? And will there be anymore depth signed at cornerback? Until recently, that was a problem when we lacked depth, much less quality starters. Broncos overpaid for Porter - we still need to sign another cornerback. Will Hartley stay at that cap number? Kasay provided a veteran presence at a friendlier cap number and their wasn't alot of "drama" for a change. Note: Only drama Kicker's should provide is winning games at the end of games are trying for longest field goal records at the end of a first half. While the FO has done a nice job of shoring up the interior offensive line - we've depth issues at Offensive Tackle and Tight End considering current personnel's injury hx... Curious to see one of the young bucks step up in the WR corps. For his contribution as a first round pick, Meachem was a terrible bust. Running Back - hope those boys are in shape and ready to go - it's the best corps in the league in my mind - best corps in the league for some time since the Ladainian Tomlinson-led group. And we've one of those backs now. Then their is the starting quarterback issue with one thought - Have we signed enough supporting cast to satisfy Drew to instruct the Destroyer of SalaryCap Worlds to sign for 19mil/year? |
I think Jeremiha Hunter played WLB in college if I remember correctly, and I remember reading an evaluation of him that stated that he could make the transition to MLB with relative ease.
You have him slated at SLB depth, is that the position you see him possibly playing in Spags' system (i.e. best fit)? I also think that both Humber and Butler might be gone, since they could easily be replaced by UDFAs or lower round draft picks - at least Humber failed to impress me the few times I remember seeing him on the field. A 2nd or 3rd round pick for Ellis would be awesome, but I fear that there won't be anyone stupid enough to give that to the Saints, regardless of whether he gets suspended or not. |
Too much suspension talk in Ellis case, I think a lot of the Saints players beside Harper, Vilma will get fines and not suspensions, for many of the players even though it would be the worst of first offenses it still would only be the first offense. I would trade Ellis for a 2nd to get a crack at Chandler Jones. Imagine it, ROMEUS, BUNKLEY, JORDAN, JONES front four!!!!!
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Who would give up a 2nd round pick for Ellis? |
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Propose the depth chart so we can see which way the roster/depth chart could go... |
Does anyone out there wonder if Randy Moss would have been a good pickup for us?
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What if Vilma doesn't get a long term suspension and remains with the team? What kind of rotation you think we would try?
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I'm concerned for the man as a person and his long term health... Plus, what kinda of snap limitations can he see per game? Should he move to the OLB spot and aid in pass coverage limiting the physical toll of the run defense? If his snaps becomes limited or situational, will he redo his contract to reflect same? And with the uncertainty, how do you game plan to include him when you have the glaring uncertainty that his joints are breaking down? He wants to play so he can both earn and contribute to the game he obviously loves... And you got these media jerks beating the drum at Goodell's door each day wanting blood because the Saints dared step up and knock the Vikings out of the playoffs... And it's a real conumdrum for the franchise as he's been a big part of changing the culture here... |
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I was honestly just curious about how you perceive Jeremiha Hunter and his possible future role(s). And since I remember him exclusively playing in the WLB spot in college, I just wondered what was the reason for you to put him down as a SLB depth guy. Going with what you stated about Vilma and his possible future role as maybe a pass coverage OLB - which I agree with - maybe Hunter could potentially provide also MLB depth? I mention that possibility because of that one evaluation I remember reading some time a go, which stated that Hunter could potentially move to the MLB spot in the NFL, but I haven't been able to find that evaluation to post here, so I guess my recollection could be wrong about the existence of the said evaluation. I'm just very excited about this guy - kind of like I was about Tom Johnson last off-season - and I think he could blossom into a very good LB if he fits into what Spags wants to do with the LB corps. He is my sleeper pick at the moment for the coming season or two. |
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You're right that Hunter should probably be on the WLB spot as his skill set suggest he's capable of pass coverage . But, he's recovering from an achilles tendon injury - not sure how that's gonna play out... |
2012 New Orleans Saints Depth Chart
This is where we are after the latest acquisitions... Note: Free Agent Signing/Retainer or Acquisition in Bold WR Marques Colston, Adrian Arrington, Joe Morgan TE Jimmy Graham, David Thomas, Player to be Named LT Jermon Bushrod LG Ben Grubbs, Eric Olsen C Brian De La Puente, Matt Tennant RG Jahri Evans RT Zach Strief, Charles Brown FR Lance Moore, Devery Henderson QB Drew Brees, Chase Daniel FB Jed Collins, Korey Hall RB Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory RDE Will Smith, Turk McBride, Greg Romeus RDT Sedrick Ellis, Mitch King LDT Brodrick Bunkley, Tom Johnson LDE Cam Jordan, Junior Galette SLB Scott Shanle, Martez Wilson, Will Herring MLB Jon Vilma, Curtis Lofton, Ramon Humber WLB Chris Chamberlain, Jonathan Casillas LCB Jabari Greer, Player to be Named SS Roman Harper; Jonathon Amaya, Player to be Named FS Malcolm Jenkins; Isa Abdul-Quddus RCB Patrick Robinson, Johnny Patrick P Thomas Morstead K John Kasay LS Justin Drescher Analysis The linebacker situation looks to be a mess - which we knew that already. But the LB position should rebound this year We'll have a better picture once there is resolution to the pending player penalty phase of Bountygate. Shanle will do better at the SLB position with Spagnuolo; I think Shanle never grasped Williams' defense - though, the opposition sure did. Not sure we keep that many linebackers. We still need to sign another cornerback or two. |
2012 New Orleans Saints Depth Chart
Note: Free Agent Signing/Retainer or Acquisition in Bold WR Marques Colston, Adrian Arrington, Joe Morgan TE Jimmy Graham, David Thomas, Player to be Named LT Jermon Bushrod LG Ben Grubbs, Eric Olsen C Brian De La Puente, Matt Tennant RG Jahri Evans RT Zach Strief, Charles Brown FR Lance Moore, Devery Henderson QB Drew Brees, Chase Daniel FB Jed Collins, Korey Hall RB Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles, Chris Ivory RDE Will Smith, Turk McBride, Greg Romeus RDT Sedrick Ellis, Mitch King LDT Brodrick Bunkley, Tom Johnson LDE Cam Jordan, Junior Galette SLB Scott Shanle, Martez Wilson, Will Herring MLB Jon Vilma, Curtis Lofton, Ramon Humber WLB Chris Chamberlain, Jonathan Casillas LCB Jabari Greer, Player to be Named SS Roman Harper; Jonathon Amaya, Player to be Named FS Malcolm Jenkins; Isa Abdul-Quddus RCB Patrick Robinson, Johnny Patrick P Thomas Morstead K John Kasay LS Justin Drescher Analysis The linebacker situation has turned around real fast - interesting to see if it gels. Do we still have Free Agent DL, especially a DT, that can protect these LineBackers? What about the offensive line? It's pretty thin... Speaking of thin, the DB's are thin as well - that's trouble. Loomis praise will be premature if the big question doesn't get addressed... l...Will Drew be signed in time to start working with the offense? |
So where do you see Hawthorne fitting in the LB line-up?
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I love our LB core, but we need some improvements on the Dline to protect our LB and create some pressure!
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I'm not sure if there are any really smart choices available anymore on the FA market which would improve the front 4, I think that the Saints will try to address those needs via the draft. |
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We can probably still get a DT with a 2nd round grade in the 3rd round. |
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That's what I'm hoping for... Wolfe and Hicks would be two great pick ups with relatively low risk to potential ratio, in my opinion, the Saints might even be able to "steal" them away with the 4th and the 6th picks respectively. |
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