jeanpierre

Stay Positive Bean! LOL

hagan714

i am trying to stay positive bud but everything hinges on LT this year

lee909

I agree with that
I don't want us to have to reach for a LT.
How much would it cost to tag Bushrod for a year if need be?
If all else fails maybe tag him and push the boat out and trade up on Mathews next year.

FinSaint

Not really an option since the franchise tag for a non-exclusive OT is somewhere around $11M... only QBs have a higher tag than O-linemen.

There's absolutely no way the Saints can afford to tag Bushrod with the cap restrictions they are facing nor should they to be completely honest about it.

lee909

Fair enough.
Maybe get in a serviceable vet for a year if no deal can be done.
Either that or trade back and hope to pick up a 2nd round pick and a late first round tackle.

Danno

Or Charles Brown and/or Marcel Jones somehow develop into capable replacements.

lee909

Are they good enough?
My knowledge of football is getting there but without ever having played the game what to look for in lineman is a way off yet.Brown seemed to hold up well from what I saw of him.

Danno

Brown looked great for 1 game, then got hurt.

Same thing with Marcell Jones. He looked good while he was in at RT, but then got hurt...IR'd.

lee909

Well lets hope they are up to the job.
I would mind getting a LT if it was Fisher or Mathews next year who sound great by all reports.But the the defence needing a number of players with little cap space having to reach for a tackle could be a disaster.
Having said that not keeping Drew upright would be a disaster too.

FinSaint

Charles Brown was a candidate to become a starting LT in the NFL from the 2010 draft. He was touted as having really good foot work and being an all-around good athlete. His major weaknesses were (are?) that he was far too light-weight in his stature and he needed to work on this overall strength, and because of these weaknesses he had the tendency of being pushed around by stronger D-linemen. Now, Brown was 290 lbs when he entered the draft, and he is listed as 297 lbs at the moment, so he hasn't really worked on his major weakness, but it might be because he has been injured so often that he hasn't been able to put on the weight required to battle starting caliber D-linemen. And that's another thing, he seems to be very susceptible to injuries or he has had very bad luck when it comes to his health - either way, those injuries have definitely affected his development, and I would only consider him a depth guy (at best) at the moment. Funny thing is that he went to USC as a TE, but was moved to OT rather quickly, and ended up starting as the LT for the last two years of his college career, and maybe that is why he has always seemed a little light-weight for an OT?!

Marcel Jones, on the other hand, could be the future RT for the Saints, and Mike Mayock had some nice things to say about Jones at last year's draft. But he needed coaching to become a NFL starter, and having been injured and out of line-up for practically his whole rookie season, I don't think he is at the point where we could really expect him to take over at the RT, let alone at the LT position.

So, next year's starting LT has to come either from the FA pool (including Bushrod) or the draft... or via a trade.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno