Danno

OFFENSE-
1. RB- We have a top 5 talent in McAllister, a good proven FB and a good young prospect. Stecker is a great change of pace back and will be a spectacular special teamer.

2. QB- I see Brooks as a top 10 guy. Solid back-up in Bouman. A developing 3rd QB in fiesty emotional O'Sullivan who reminds me of a young Jake. Definitely not the weak link on this team.

3. O-line- Bentley, Holland, Jacox, and Nesbit give us a solid run-blocking unit next year. Riley and Gandy played well enough at tackle to hold their own. An upper middle-of-the-pack unit that should be stronger in short yardage next year. Not great, but close to it.

4. TE- Best TE group here in a while. Boo may become a pro-bowler, Conwell already is, and Hilton may develop into a red-zone weapon either in 2004 or 2005. A damm good unit.

5. WR- Horn still has a few solid years left. Stallworth's nagging injury problems should start decreasing as it has with other WR's who had similar probs. Pathon is a versatile, dependable WR that can play all 3 positions well. Lewis was much better than I ever thought he would be. Gardner is still a 2-3 year project with HUGE upside.
The addition of Henderson makes this unit one of the fastest in the NFL, hands down. The new WR coach may be what the doc ordered for discipline, blocking and drops that plagued us last year. Crowell may become the sure handed possession type WR we had in Wilie Jackson a few years back, only with twice the speed.

DEFENSE
6. DL- Howard, Grant, Sullivan will all be better. Bryan Young allows Sullivan to move to the nose, which is what we drafted him for. It appears he’s already put on some extra weight. Will Smith may become the best DE this franchise has ever had. The 3 man DE rotation has worked pretty well for other teams (New England being one of them). Leisle provides a solid back-up capable of filling in the 2-gap position if necessary. Hiring Pease can ONLY make this unit better. He is proven and not one single person has said differently.

7. LB- What can I say. They’re all young? I can’t believe everyone wants to give up on Allen. A 3rd round draft pick and only two years experience? He still has time to improve and whats he costing us? Next to nothing. Let the camp competition settle his value to this team. Hodge is in a similar situation, but I think he has this year and that’s it. Cie is an unknown, but so is every draft pick selected this year and half selected last year. He gets a rookie mulligan from me. Watson has proven himself in the college ranks andabout every expert sees him as a solid NFL MLB. I’ll take their word for it. Cie is probably a better WLB anyway. Rodgers is simply consistently adequate, which is kind of a good thing thing for this young inconsistent group. Darrin Smith may be kept for his experience, if he has some gas left in the tank. I think he can play all 3 LB’s can’t he? This unit still has concerns, but it should be much better than last years unit.

8. CB- Its no secret we were all disappointed we didn’t land a CB in the draft. We did add a decent starter in FA and we still may make another move before the season starts. But I’m not counting on it. I’m now open to bringing Dale Carter back if the price is right. This unit is fine if we don’t have injuries. But if Craft or Thomas go down, we’re in heap big trouble. We MUST add another quality CB before the season starts. Ambrose is a solid nickel back and Brown is a solid dime. This group is our weak link if we suffer any injuries.

9. SS- Mel Mitchell should be back to 100%. If he was truly good enough to put Bellamy on the bench then it'll be exciting to see what this guy can do. If not, Bellamy showed he’s more than adequate as a SS. I just hope he never has to go back to FS.

10. FS- Tebuckey started to play better as the year went on. I think he will improve quite a bit. His poor tackling technique has at least been admitted to, and they have said its what he’ll work on this off-season. He may never justify the large salary but he may turn into a solid FS. My only concern is depth. Who’s behind him?

saintfan

Now that\'s what I consider an intelligent assesment of things. I can see why folks might wanna take a wait and see approach regarding the defense -- I understand that -- but I just don\'t think all the negativity and nay saying and player / coach bashing is warranted. The Saints were a young team last year, especially on defense. They didn\'t play well on that side of the ball, but they played better over the course of the second half of the season. Experience and time spent together on the field (barring another rash of brutal injuries) can do nothing but help.

C'mon Man...

saintz08

Good write up but.....

Can we see Better and Bigger .... :P

swamee

yes, sniff, it is sad.......
all i\'m hearing beechwise is a corner, a linebacker, and of course, a coach.....
well hell, if that\'s all we need, the majority of you should\'nt complain...
but you do.......why?
it\'s really because we\'ve sucked for the last 37 yrs, is\'nt it?
come on, tell it like it is.....
in reality, or on the planet, all they\'ve ever done is disappoint, have\'nt they?
well now, that makes me feel a lot better.....
hallelujah, my tears have dried up.....
actually, i think we need 2 corners and 2 linebackers (pros) just for depth......
with this happening, my eyes see bright lights at the end of the tunnel, blinding lights, heavenly lights..........
the main reason most beech on the board is because they care.......swamee

BlackandBlue

Tap them brakes just a hair. I haven\'t heard lately how he is doing, but seem to remember reading a few months ago that he will only be 80-85% when training camp comes around. A torn ACL can easily take more than a year to recover from.

saintfan

I hear Mel has no problem go straigh ahead, but his lateral movement isn\'t what it should be. Kinda scary really, but hopefully things heal up nicely.