Saints: Who's on the hot seat?
 

We’ll continue our look at which NFC South players could be on the hot seat because of salary-cap casualties with the New Orleans Saints.

At the moment, the Saints are under the cap, but that’s only temporary. They’re trying to re-sign quarterback Drew Brees to a new contract and that alone could put them over the cap. In addition to Brees, they also have key players Marques Colston and Carl Nicks that they would like to prevent from departing in free agency. They also have some lesser potential free agents in receiver Robert Meachem and cornerback Tracy Porter that, in a perfect world, they would like to keep.

But this isn’t a perfect world and the Saints are probably going to have to make some painful cap moves.

Read more; Saints: Who's on the hot seat? - NFC South Blog - ESPN

Nice read, but not really anything we haven't talked about here.

Smith, Vilma, and Ellis restructured or released. Henderson a candidate for release. Bushrod's potential release was a little surprising. I can't support releasing him, but a trade could be an option.

Letting negotiations with Brees get to the point of tagging him is stupid and, in my opinion, irresponsible. Nicks should get the tag and we should give re-signing Colston a shot, but he still might get away.

Potential draft replacements for Colston:
Stephen Hill 6'4" 215lbs 4.36 40-time (probably won't be there for us in round 2, but definitely won't make it to round 3)
Tommy Streeter 6'5" 219lbs 4.40 40-time (potential target in round 3 with great size and speed)
Gerell Robinson 6'3" 227lbs 4.62 40-time (could be there in round 6 and is still a big target, but probably a more realistic option)

I don't want the Saints to release Vilma or Smith I hope there smart enough to restructure there contract for the good of the team. I would release Ellis and Henderson to save Nicks, Colston and Meachem.

Smith is the best DE the Saints have at the moment, as hard as that is to admit. I would find it very strange if Spags would not want to keep him around with a restructured contract - that is if Smith is willing to restructure his contract.

And who would be the alternative to Bushrod at LT at the moment - Strief or Brown? That doesn't seem like a move the Saints would make without having a legitimate replacement for him in the wings.

I was thinking the same thing about Bushrod he wont be going anywhere hes to good of a player and the Saints dont have anyone to step up and take his place yet

Smith, as unproductive as he can be, is still our best d-lineman and I'm sure Spags would want to keep him around, but the production has to at least come close to the cost.

Bushrod is unlikely to be cut or traded, but stranger things have happened.

As you guys pointed out, it looks like several players will restructure or look elswhere. I can certainly see Smith, Vilma, Ellis, and Henderson restructuring, and Bushrod signing a more cap friendly extension.

Ideally all the restructing/extending will buy us some time to address things in more detail in 2014 when the salary cap skyrockets.

Shanle, tracy porter, sed ellis are on the hot seat

Bushrod improved quite a lot this year, I don't think he gets released, we would atleast get a mid round I think if we traded him

Smith is on the bubble, I think see how he performs in spags system for the first couple weeks and if he looks anything like he has the past 2 seasons add an injection of youth in there and give galette and hopefully Romeus more snaps

It must be tough taking a pay cut because you know you didn't earn your money. Who would want to stay here for say half of their pay vs. getting three quarters pay elsewhere?

Smith would be released or restructured before the season because we need that money to retain Brees, Nicks, and Colston (in that order).