DT thin Saints may re-sign Remi Ayodele
 

Neither Shaun Rogers or Aubrayo Franklin are expected back with the team for the 2012 season.

That leaves the Saints with Sedrick Ellis, Tom Johnson, Mitch King, Swanson Miller, and the recently signed Brodrick Bunkley currently on the roster.

Bunkley, considered among the best 4-3 run stuffing defensive tackles in the league, is a dramatic upgrade over either Rogers or Franklin.

From there however things begin to drop off after Sedrick Ellis in terms of actual starting experience in the NFL.

Tom Johnson was signed by the Saints last year out of the CFL.

He came on strong in the preseason before a calf injury, appearing in 13 games with 15 tackles, 1 sack, and a forced fumble for the team in 2011.

Swanson Miller and Mitch King are mere journey men, who may not even make the final roster.

Ayodele could fit into the Saints rotation and in heavy formations to stuff the run. He’s familiar with the team, although not the new defense Steve Spagnuolo will install.

You can’t discount the fact either that starter Sedrick Ellis enjoyed his best season as pro in 2010 when he recorded 30 tackles and 6 sacks along side Ayodele.

Ayodele spent three season with the Saints, making 90 tackles and six sacks


Remi Ayodele could land back with defensive tackle thin New Orleans Saints

I was thinking about this earlier when I noticed his name on the list of available free agents. I think it'd be great to have him back not only for quality depth, but in the event of an injury, can be a legitimate starter.

My only concern, given the fact he played under Gregg Williams, is whether or not he is on this still anonymous list of players who could be suspended. Can't think of any time he ever made a hit that was brought into question, though.

He was half of the infamous, (to viqueens fans) Hi-Lo hit on Favre.

See 2:14 mark on video.

New Orleans Saints put Brett Favre's Pants on the Ground (featuring American Idol's Larry Platt) - YouTube

lol, wow, I don't even remotely remember Ayodele having been in on that hit. Shows how much Vagikings fans like to blow things out of proportion.

Ayodele peels off severely and ends up barely touching him.

What's the point in signing him if he was going to be suspended, that's the reason the vikes let him go

Unless some idiot with the Saints wrote down which players were paid X $$ for X tackle/hits, the league will have a hard time suspending players.

Not sure about "quality" depth. But i am intrigued as to how he would play under Spags and not the all-out-blitz mentality of GW.

His looming suspension may be the reason the Saints (and others) are waiting to move on his contract.

Yeah I have to agree. Aside from Vilma and maybe Harper, it's just a bunch of hearsay. I still think Vilma will be suspended the entire, but can't imagine more than a game or two for anyone else.

This has been my complaint since day one of this deal. Now I've heard that there was an email chain about it. Can you tell me if that's true? What are the details? Who was involved??

He was the most productive run stuffer we had those couple years, and to put a guy like that in a reserve role is in fact quality depth.

He does not have a looming suspension, just a mere possibility of one.

I haven't heard about an e-mail chain.

I think he's referring to some report that said The NFL found and showed Sean Payton an email from Mike Ornstein, I believe it was, saying that one of the players told him (meaning Ornstein) that GW offered him a certain amount of money to hit Rodgers.

Can't remember who the player was or how much he was offered, and don't know the source of this info... So it's all sketchy to me.

While that may be a part of it, he graded out at one of the worst defensive tackles in the league last year if I'm not mistaken.

I'd be okay giving him the vets minimum to be our 4 tackle on the roster.

That seems to be what the NFL considers their biggest piece of evidence that Sean knew about the program, and didn't stop it of course.

From what I know, Ornstein is an ex felon, and I have no idea why he stays in contact with the Saints. The fact that someone like him sends an email and it is taken as solid fact by the NFL, makes me scratch my goatee in wonderment.

Yep, i'll give you that. 30 and 37 combined tackles in two seasons, probably helped Ellis have better seasons. Ok, yeah, but prior to New Orleans he never notched more than 5 combined tackles. Last year in Minnesota he had 15 combined tackles.

So, I'm not sure about him.

As soon as the NFLPA does their thing - we'll need to find out where we'll be regarding suspended personnel.

That's the next big hurdle...

I got it wrong, Ornstein wasn't talking about a player, apparently he was just talking about himself... Here's a piece of an article where I read about it:

(The league said that when Payton was interviewed this year about the bounties, he claimed to be unaware of the program, which was contradicted by others who had been interviewed. The investigation found that before the Saints’ season-opening game in 2011 against the Green Bay Packers, Payton received an e-mail from a close associate — believed to be Mike Ornstein, a marketing agent who is a convicted felon — that stated, in part, “PS Greg Williams put me down for $5000 on Rogers.” When Payton was shown the e-mail during the investigation, he acknowledged that it was a bounty on Rodgers, the Packers’ quarterback.)

I don't know how that email proves anything. Gregg Williams put him down for $5000 on Rodgers what? Getting sacked? Throwing an interception? Discount double check?... It's vague at best.

I know what you mean there, but sometimes guys need to be in the right environment, where they are motivated to succeed. He did well here, so it's worth considering at a low price.

And this year's team should be nowhere close to that environment.

I just hope the environment includes making tackles, I mean, actually making tackles.
Ayodele was one of our most productive players in the middle.
He and Ellis worked well together. I would love to see him back if possible.
If he is the best we can come up with, I'd be OK. Our defensive gutt will be key.
If our front four can hold their own, the other seven jobs become much easier.

I don't think the hit was dirty, or planned, but this statement is clearly untrue, Remi hits him dead in the chest at nearly full speed.

I like Remi a lot. I thought he fit very well in New Orleans. I just worry he might be suspended tho.

What is he, like 60 now? No thanks, that train left the station 3 years ago. Time to move on.

Remi's only 28, you may be thinking of his older Brother Akin, who is in his 30's
.

He's a decent enough player for the right price. I don't have a problem with bringing him back.

Can you provide the link to that article? I'd like to read it.

We need to forget about this guy. We just added Bunkley who is a great run stuffer and Tom Johnson will be a good player this year.

I think we are gonna go after another FA we should go get Amobe Okoye. He is a gap penetrator and would be a great addition.
If not him then go get a guy like Fred Robbins who will be a great locker room guy, veteran, savvy, good leverage player, who is a sure tackler and would provide quality depth. Plus he is familiar with Spags defense.

I remember him recovering a fumble in the endzone for a TD when Sanchez was sacked in '09.

At the right price (i.e. low price) he might at least be someone to bring to camp to compete for a roster spot, but I'm hoping that the Saints pick up a DT in either their 3rd or 4th round pick.

If you look at it closely, McCray is the one who hits him the hardest and when Ayodele comes in you can see him pull up and stick his hands out and sort of lightly push him and then he tries to fall over Favre instead of on him.

This is why I don't understand why the Vikes could possibly think it was dirty.

Here is the link you were asking for:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/sp...pagewanted=all

There are several articles about it you can find, but I think this one has a little more information from Nola.com:

Gregg Williams wasn't alone in the New Orleans Saints bounty issue - New Orleans Saints Football NFL News - NOLA.com

The environment I'm talking about is one of a winning team. He played for bad Dolphin teams before the Saints and played for a horrible Viking team last year.

I am not talking about bounty motivation. We all thought he was gonna suck when we signed him the first time, and it turned out pretty well. I don't know what's wrong with giving the guy a chance for what is gonna cost us next to nothing.