Originally Posted by Ashley (Post 573391)

Am I the only one who does not like Strief? I cant wait to get rid of him.

Originally Posted by SaintsBro (Post 573401)

The Terron Armstead miracle these past few games has made me feel like, basically, almost everybody is expendable or upgrade-able in some form or other. Realistically, Evans and Grubbs were good, but I'm tired of this year's line woes -- we should be expecting SO MUCH from our line, give our history of having great lines. We are used to being excellent in that area, and we deserve to be completely spoiled about THAT -- protecting Drew and having All Pro lines is what this team is all about. We CANNOT keep going, living in the past, with a deteriorating team that's getting slower and fatter and more and more expensive, growing longer and longer in the tooth. The NFL will pass us by so quickly if we don't stay on top of things.

I don't exactly dislike Strief, but we have such a great history of young guys coming in out of nowhere and playing their you-know-whats off for this team on the offensive line....maybe one more year to groom someone underneath him. It's time for change. The line was terrible this year, and our line players and staff are supposed to be known as some of the best in the biz.

Originally Posted by Rugby Saint II (Post 573470)

I know that Strief graded out well in most of our games. What we need is another center. dlp has maxed out I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by ClintSaints (Post 573531)

I hope we can have Parys Haralson back again.

Originally Posted by ClintSaints (Post 573531)

I hope we can have Parys Haralson back again.

Originally Posted by exile (Post 573278)

Why? Do you think he will want to much $$$. With a decent contract he is still better than 75% of the Safeties in the league. Take teams like San Fran, Seattle and Carolina and their safeties are helped by those D-Lines/LBs. Of course they look pretty. And Seattle has better CBs that help their Safeties way too much. Put Jenk on one of those teams and he would be a superstar.

Originally Posted by papz (Post 573261)

The salary cap will once again be a hurdle for the New Orleans Saints in 2014. They're already $12.5 million over the projected cap of $126.6 million, according to ESPN's John Clayton. And that's even before signing unrestricted tight end Jimmy Graham, who will certainly become the highest-paid tight end in NFL history.

Recent history suggests the Saints will still find a way to keep their core players and even add one or two key free agent signings. But it will require both some creative restructuring of contracts and some difficult decisions to part ways with some longtime veterans.

Here's a breakdown of some of the key decisions looming this offseason:

FREE AGENTS:

Unrestricted free agent starters: TE Jimmy Graham, RT Zach Strief, C Brian de la Puente, S Malcolm Jenkins, OLB Parys Haralson, K Shayne Graham.

Unrestricted free agent reserves: WR Robert Meachem, OT Charles Brown, QB Luke McCown, LB Jonathan Vilma, LB Will Herring, LB Ramon Humber, LB Keyunta Dawson, DE Kenyon Coleman, S Jordan Pugh

Restricted free agents: FB Jed Collins, WR Joe Morgan, S Rafael Bush, DE Tom Johnson

Thoughts: First of all, this is not a bad list, with only four full-time players on it. Teams, including the Saints, have faced much worse in past years.

The only no-brainer who will definitely be re-signed is Graham. He will be back at any cost, even if it means a fight over his franchise tag designation (tight end vs. wide receiver). It would be a win-win for both sides if they would avoid the franchise tag altogether and structure a cap-friendly long-term deal. But it's obviously possible that the negotiations may go on longer than expected, because Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and agent Jimmy Sexton will be breaking new ground on this deal.

After Graham, I would put Strief, de la Puente and Jenkins in the same boat. I think the Saints like all of them (Strief and Jenkins are both captains) and would very much like to have all of them back at the right price. But I wouldn't be shocked to see the Saints let any of them go if they get bigger offers elsewhere (like Scott Fujita, Jonathan Goodwin, Carl Nicks, Jermon Bushrod, etc., from years past).

I could also see the Saints bringing back guys like Haralson, Meachem and a handful of others from this list if the price is bare bones.

Another interesting name on this list is kicker Shayne Graham. He looked like a lock for a 2014 roster spot after being a playoff hero in Round 1. Then he missed both of his field-goal attempts at Seattle. I still like his chances of coming back and at least competing for the job. All kickers will miss occasionally, but I've got to think the Saints liked what they saw from him as a cool-headed veteran with a lot of experience under his belt.

As for the restricted free agents, I could see all of them coming back -- especially Collins and Bush. They might have to give those guys second-round tenders, though, which will probably cost more than $2 million each.

Read more: A look at the New Orleans Saints' 2014 roster decisions - ESPN