WhoDat!656

METAIRIE, La. -- You're Carl Nicks -- you want to be the best guard in the NFL, and paid accordingly.

Sure, you also want the recognition. It feels good when teammates and coaches, the public and the media acknowledge that your skills are superior to all you encounter. You can open running lanes wide as downtown alleys, protect your quarterback from the bad guys on defense. You want to be a leader.

Still, money is the biggest factor. You don't get the payday you feel you deserve in New Orleans, so you depart for Tampa Bay, whom the Saints (1-4) play Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

"It's the world we live in. You should blame society for that," Nicks said Wednesday of his offseason decision move to Tampa Bay (2-3).

You prepare this week to face your old team for the first time. You're looking forward to it. Mainly because you get to show out against the franchise that let you go.

You don't hate the Saints. After all, they ended your longer-than-anticipated, second-day anxiety during the 2008 NFL Draft, selecting you in the fifth round. You move from tackle to guard. They teach you how to pass block, something you didn't have a lot of experience with at Nebraska. Thursday dinners with the offensive line are cool. You're intense. You tell great stories. Drew Brees calls it, "Story Time with Carl."

Read more here: You're Carl Nicks, and you want Saints to miss you | New Orleans Saints | The Sun Herald

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

QBREES9

You and receiver Robert Meachem pick a bad year to finish your contracts. Meachem leaves for San Diego. You pack your bags, signing a five-year, $47.5 million contract, which is way more than the Saints offered. The most the Saints offered was slightly more than the seven-year, $56.7 million fellow guard Jahri Evans signed for in 2010. Not hatin' on Evans. Just want to make your money while you can.

Great Story love how it was written

Marlboro Man

Yeah and when the game's over try not to cry too much about losing Carl. I guess you're ok with only 1 Super Bowl Ring.

Rugby Saint II

If you want to solve a problem then follow the money............the problem was he didn't have enough money.lol

jeanpierre

"It's the world we live in. You should blame society for that..."-Carl Nicks

The same society that enables you to make that kind of money? What a jack@$$...

I just hope he doesn't get frustrated in the game and tries to cheapshot and injure any of our young, upcoming players...

FinSaint

I might be in the minority, but I think Evans is a better overall guard than Nicks, and I said so much back when Nicks was still with the Saints.

Evans is more of a leader, which has been verified by the other O-linemen and especially the new guys like Grubbs and the rookies, so having him on this team and O-line is very important for the Saints' future success... I can't say the same about Nicks' departure, because Grubbs has filled his shoes and then some.

Danno

Uhh say what???

Nebraska was top 10 in the NCAA in passing when Nicks was there.