The Big 2014 Changes thread (Non Draft)

[WillSaints81]

Originally Posted by |Mitch|

Everybody talks "window", like once Brees retires we automatically revert to a 1-15 team...

The way I see it, we are steadily getting younger and you never know who plays QB after Brees... Ryan Griffin may be better than Drew for all we know...

Before Brees we were not actually bad. We had .500 seasons for three years. In 2005 we lost five games by 7 or less points and got screwed of any kind of home game against the giants. The bucs game the last game was also 7 point deficit before turning it over that lead to TB going up 14. I know the league has changed now but we would only need a qb that can play as good as the read options and have a strong power running game.

[TheOak]

Originally Posted by WillSaints81

Before Brees we were not actually bad. We had .500 seasons for three years. In 2005 we lost five games by 7 or less points and got screwed of any kind of home game against the giants. The bucs game the last game was also 7 point deficit before turning it over that lead to TB going up 14. I know the league has changed now but we would only need a qb that can play as good as the read options and have a strong power running game.

Not exactly. If your RBs can't run, neither can your QB so the RO would have been a nogo in 2013.

I'm not as satisfied with mediocrity as the above statement reads.

[WillSaints81]

Originally Posted by TheOak

Not exactly. If your RBs can't run, neither can your QB so the RO would have been a nogo in 2013.

I'm not as satisfied with mediocrity as the above statement reads.

We were mediocre those years but were a step above the Ditka years. We were trying at least. Brooks wasnt good, but we had Deuce. I was saying that we just need a good running game and a game manager. As long as Atlanta is contending, Loomis will not let us fall off after Brees.

[rezburna]

Its kind of time to start building a fresh, young roster. As long as we can put together a better offensive line, meaning we let Strief and DLP walk, while upgrading our receiving core we'll be fine. I'd trade Jimmy Graham for an AJ Green or Dez Bryant in a minute. Hell, I'd trade him for Crabtree, Boldin, or Vernon Davis. We need some speed at every spot.

[Schmohams]

Originally Posted by rezburna

I'd trade Jimmy Graham for an AJ Green or Dez Bryant in a minute. Hell, I'd trade him for Crabtree, Boldin, or Vernon Davis. We need some speed at every spot.

BOLDIN! I'm sorry but never ever! a WR at 33 years old isn't an ideal player.

[ikecomp]

Something needs to be done with Harper. So whether he takes a paycut or we cut him it needs to happen. He wasn't as historically bad this season as he was in years pass with regards to giving up big plays but a lot of that had to do with Vaccaro being back there and the fact he missed some games this year.

I would love to see what d'anthony thomas out of oregon could do in sproles place. Not to mention I have my eyes on jarvis landry and odell beckum. Beckum has the speed but landry has some of the sickest hands I've seen in college or pros. I hope they are at least on payton's offensive wishlist.

[saintfan]

Originally Posted by TheOak

Changes need to come to how we presently look and function. I will start with a few of mine. They are hard and ugly but as mentioned by exile great teams know when to trim the fat and let go of the declining players.

There was a youth movement on Defense and you see how that panned out.

Play Book
Our offensive playbook need to be burnt, ashes folded into a nice custard, consumed, and then burn the waste. It is no longer needed, our entire team knows it by heart because it is what we have used for years, defenses know it by heart also. It doesn't work any more and everyone from the newest fan, to expert talking heads, to Sean Payton him self said we need to be less predictable... If you want to be less predictable, do something different.


Special teams
Greg McMahon - Needs to go.. He is not covering the fundamentals.
- Unprepared for at least 1 onsides kick (unacceptable)
- Laces in for a playoff FG kick (unacceptable)
- 2nd last in KO return yards and 4th last in PR yards, this directly translated to starting field position for our offense.
2013 NFL Team Returning Stats - National Football League - ESPN

Running Backs
Sproles - Time to Find or allow a replacement. Championship teams know when to hold-em and when to fold-em. I love Sproles but he is no longer as elusive, he allowed two punts to roll back to within the 5 yard line that I saw, and he gets tripped by index fingers and tall grass.

PT - I am on the fence about PT. Another that I love but love doesn't bring Championships. 2013 saw him tied for the most rushing attempts in his career (he had 147 in 2009 also), but his YPC has dropped nearly a yard and until this year has never been less than 4 YPC. His receptions were at an all time high but his YPC was at an all time low and he is not a receiver.

Jed Collins - We need more of a hybrid or more of a bruiser.

Travaris Cadet - Does nothing. Wasted spot and we do not need a 5th RB.


Dead Weight
Will Smith - Eat the dead money.
Victor Butler - No idea about him, keep and hope or find someone we know?

Free Agents we let walk
Jenkins - Bye
Vilma - So long
Strief - Bye
DLP - Bye
Charles Brown - Bye
Meachem - Slow
Jed Collins - Sort of borderline on him
Haralson - Second season ending injury in 3 years


Unlike others I have looked at the financials also, dead money figured into savings.

Smith - saves us 11M

I am sure we can find 1 RB to replace these two for less than 6.4M.
Sproles - Saves us 3.5M
P Thomas - 2.9M

Lance Moore - 2.8m (I love Lance as well but for that we can find younger = talent)
Nick Toon 400k


All I can think of right now. I focused mainly on offense because it seems that is where we find our selves wearing our favorite shoes and not getting into the dance.

Overall we have netted 21M to replace these players with.

Agree with others. Excellent post. Brutal on some points, but I think you're essentially correct.

I do however disagree with burning the entire playbook. I think a committed effort to RUN THE DANG BALL would do WONDERS for our playbook. Frankly I think that's what Sean means about being less predictable. We need to have the ability to run when Jimmy is in the game. We need to have the ability to run when either PT, Khiry, or Mark is lined up. We are too predictable based on our offensive packages. At least that's my armchair opinion, which is all I have to offer.

I think if we make a concerned effort to get some people who truly excel on the offensive line so many of our problems go away. The ceiling is "cathedral" for our defense.

I'm very excited about next season already.

[exile]

Here's to those who wants to talk about Brees' replacement.

Twitter

Danno and Boutte like this.

[Danno]

Originally Posted by saintfan

Agree with others. Excellent post. Brutal on some points, but I think you're essentially correct.

I do however disagree with burning the entire playbook. I think a committed effort to RUN THE DANG BALL would do WONDERS for our playbook. Frankly I think that's what Sean means about being less predictable. We need to have the ability to run when Jimmy is in the game. We need to have the ability to run when either PT, Khiry, or Mark is lined up. We are too predictable based on our offensive packages. At least that's my armchair opinion, which is all I have to offer.

I think if we make a concerned effort to get some people who truly excel on the offensive line so many of our problems go away. The ceiling is "cathedral" for our defense.

I'm very excited about next season already.

Agreed about the playbook. I'd guess 90% of the playbook contain plays that every team runs.

I don't think the plays are the problem as much as the predictability of the play calls.

Like you said, if we have success running the ball the opposing teams can't just sit back in soft zones and nickel defenses waiting for that inevitable mistake.

[ikecomp]

Originally Posted by Danno

Agreed about the playbook. I'd guess 90% of the playbook contain plays that every team runs.

I don't think the plays are the problem as much as the predictability of the play calls.

Like you said, if we have success running the ball the opposing teams can't just sit back in soft zones and nickel defenses waiting for that inevitable mistake.

First we need to get rid of the 12 different screen plays we run. No team needs that many screen plays. Second, sean payton needs to let his highly paid OC call plays. Lastly, we need to start playing with a little tempo. I know payton wants to create the ultimate formation mismatches every play but sometimes increasing the tempo does just as good because it gives the opponent no time to adjust even if they know what's coming.

Too many times did I see delay of games and wasted timeouts because of late substitutions, late play calls and brees spending 15 seconds to move players around. Simplify and execute.