hagan714

Reality

LOT
Ok as for Albert i see the chiefs tagging him if they can not sign them.

Ryan Clady – DEN - Manning will not let him go

that leaves Jake Long Dolphins as the marquee LT tagged twice? nope aint happening.

Long will want about $11 million a year, and a monster signing bonus. That would eat everything up.

So if the saints have a rabbit to pull out of their hat with a player i am over looking Bushrod aint going any where.

Thats why i am thinking the saints should spend most of the money in FA on the defense unless you want to add players on offense like

WR
Wes Welker (NE) - anyone? lol there goes the money again

TE
Delanie Walker (SF) - knows how to play the number 2 TE roll already

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

Marlboro Man

Well, I wanted Cliff Avril last year but he got tagged. He's been on a losing team for a long time and might take a little less to go to a winner. I get sick thinking the we have to stay with Bushrod. I hope he does go to another team who pays more money for a 2 second turnstile. Wes Welker not thanks we got Moore so no loss there. Walker would be intriguing just to get him away from the 9ers and get some insight but we have some young cheap TE's already. Osi Umenyura is gonna cost too much too and that's a shame.

|Mitch|

Even with a discount, we can't afford him...

SloMotion

He's not the playmaker everyone thinks he is either.

jeanpierre

And that would be insight from a Lions Fan that's watched them all season...

hagan714

Big dollar signing always like a good laugh,

Cliff Avril DE Lions - consecutive years of the tag lol i think not. lets see the asking price but i am not that crazy about taking him on.

Darrelle Revis, CB what needs to said here? now there goes all the mony

Upper Mid Level - now one or maybe two are possible

Michael Johnson, DE, Cincinnati Bengals
At 6'7, 270 pound with terrific athleticism. A young and up coming DE that i have really problems seeing the Bengals letting walk. But to tag him to keep him is another issue all together. so there is a chance if he wants to test the market

Henry Melton DT Chicago Bears
Melton is 6'3" tall and weighs 295 pounds. I do think Bears will allow a 26-year old interior pass rusher to walk. But worth keeping an eye on.

Louis Delmas SS Lions
one of the better hard hitting safeties in the NFL. were as he may not be the headline grabing safeties in the nfl he is definitly one of the few truely steady ss in the league. I think as Cliff Avril goes same for Louis. Will they put the money out to keep both?

Jarius Byrd FS Bills
Yet another young player that has proven his worth and looks to only get better. I would snag him in a heart beat. but i do not see this happening, if it did

Sean Smith, Cornerback - ????? hard call here

Rational - these are solid depth moves that should be very cap friendly

Terrance Knighton NT Jags
he's among the best young run-stoppers in the league. Now in the pass happy NFL he could be had at a good price.

Mike Patterson, DT Eagles
Spagnuolo was still working in Philly when the Eagles selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft. There should be a fire sale in Philli and players wanting to get the hell out of dodge. Plus coaches like to drag players around with them so i had to throw him in

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

SloMotion

Avril wants more money than he's worth. For a guy who supposedly benefits so much from lining up next to Suh, he has average numbers. Take that benefit away & what are you going to get? If you can get him cheap, bag him. Otherwise, pass.

Delmas is injury-prone. I think the wear & tear of the NFL is getting to him and any F/A offer should reflect the amount of time he's spent off the field the past two seasons. As with Avril, if you can get him cheap, bag him.

You'd also have to consider chemistry with these guys, coming from the Lions. That locker room is a mess. While they may not be part of the problem, it's obvious no one is actively trying to be part of the solution either. There's a reason those guys are 4-9 (and will most likely finish 5-11, 0-6 in the division) with some of the talent they have on that team.

Just sayin' ... proceed with caution when considering a free agent from Detroit ... other than maybe Calvin or Stafford.

FinSaint

I agree Hagan that it's going to be difficult to fill that LT spot with a quality free agent with the salary restrictions the Saints have, and therefore, it would probably be wise for them to try and get a LT from the draft as rookies - even those picked in high rounds - are nowadays much more affordable than they were under the old CBA.

Like you already touched upon, LTs make a lot of money in free agency, and that is another reason why I doubt Bushrod will re-sing with the Saints as he'll probably get a bigger deal elsewhere, and I really doubt he wants to give the Saints any discount at this point in his career. I think that he will get overpaid by someone, and Loomis has shown that he isn't willing to overpay O-lineman as was the case with Nicks and Goodwin.

It'll be interesting to see how they'll manage to restructure someone like Evans' contract, since he still has 4 years to go on the contract, and all of those years have a $9M+ cap number - I doubt he'll want more years added to his contract and I doubt he'll want to push back any of that base salary toward the latter years. A sizable bonus conversion could work, but it would only present further problems going forward.

The LB depth does look fairly good even if the Saints part ways with Vilma and do not re-sign Shanle, as Casillas should be rather cheap to re-sing since there was no interest in him last offseason and Herring could potentially restructure like you mentioned. Also, Chamberlain - who was really impressive in the preseason before his season ending injury - has another 2 years to go on his contract with $1.05M and $1.1M cap numbers, so if he has successfully rehabbed to his former self, he could be another interesting asset and could even make cutting Herring or not re-signing Casillas possible.

In any case, Loomis will undoubtedly make some magic happen with the current contracts, and hopefully the draft has all the right guys available at the right moment for the Saints, so that they can maximize the draft gain.

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

halloween 65

A really decent DE in free agency to take Smiths spot, I would draft a DT to take Big Eggs spot I mean a down right nasty one, That guy from Georgia looks nasty enough to me.

hagan714

ok i think there will be no real chance to land any of top talent this year.

These two are the ones i want but something needs to melt down in order for them to be out there shopping around. something freaky needs to happen

Michael Johnson, DE, Cincinnati Bengals
At 6'7, 270 pound with terrific athleticism. A young and up coming DE that i have really problems seeing the Bengals letting walk. But to tag him to keep him is another issue all together. so there is a chance if he wants to test the market

Henry Melton DT Chicago Bears
Melton is 6'3" tall and weighs 295 pounds. I do think Bears will allow a 26-year old interior pass rusher to walk. But worth keeping an eye on.

So Rational - these are solid depth moves that should be very cap friendly

Terrance Knighton NT Jags
he's among the best young run-stoppers in the league. Now in the pass happy NFL he could be had at a good price.

Mike Patterson, DT Eagles
Spagnuolo was still working in Philly when the Eagles selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft. There should be a fire sale in Philli and players wanting to get the hell out of dodge. Plus coaches like to drag players around with them so i had to throw him in


** throwing one name out their for response first round bust

Leodis McKelvin - ok in Buffalo one thing has shown in his game. do not let him sit on an island and play man coverage. Now as a zone nickle/dime back? spag loves zone.

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins