Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Bush is a more than serviceable safety and could start for some teams. He was very good depth for us.
Did we match? I can't remember if he's RFA OR UFA . Do we get compensation?

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

We haven't matched yet. We have until Tuesday. He's an RFA with the lowest tender allowed by the CBA rules so therefore, if we lose him we get no compensation.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Well, I dont mind losing Bush if Ball comes in and plays balls out and balls out of control-but if Ball comes in and drops the ball or is not ballin like Bush balled, then I think Im gonna lose my marballs. Ya feel me?
....whew! Thats alot of balls!

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Restricted free agent S Rafael Bush would prefer if the Saints didn't match the two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet he received from the Falcons.

New Orleans Advocate


If he doesn't want to be here, let him leave. I'm a little disappointed he feels that way, as there are plenty of snaps to be shared here, but I do understand.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Well let's be real here... Atlanta offers him the starting free safety job and we offer him a backup role that's now even more crowded with Champ Bailey joining the secondary. I don't blame him. He's not speaking ill of the Saints, he just would rather get his chance to try and shine.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

If I were him, that's exactly how I would feel. As a fan, there's nothing wrong with feeling a little disappointed.

I don't blame him either.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Don't get me wrong, I hate to see him go as well... I just had to play devil's advocate and understand where he's coming from.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

If I had the opportunity of taking a starting job or just being a rotational player I would take the starting job every time. I can't blame him. Just sucks that he is going to the birds and not another team...

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Maybe a little harsh, but I say let him go and start for the Falcons. We'll see real quick if he's as good as we thought he was in that pathetic defense... :rolleyes:

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

^^^^ This is roundabout what I thought even before Ball and Bailey signed.... I think if we are talking rubbles they match, any thing beyond three million were not matching... Either way I can't be mad at him.... But its still F#@k the birds so it will be F#$k him.... with a lot less hate.....

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Im sure we will repay the favour soon enough

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

do not let the birds sign any player on our team. why? its still F#@k the birds

priceless

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

I really don't see much sense in matching the OS if it's around $2M per annum or even more.

I'm not saying Bush couldn't be a player worth that going forward, but that at the moment the Saints have more important positions to invest that money in.

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Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Restricted free agent S Rafael Bush would prefer if the Saints didn't match the two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet he received from the Falcons.

Bush is currently the Saints' No. 3 safety and would have a much clearer path to playing time in Atlanta. He'd immediately be the favorite for the Falcons' free safety job and a playmaking upgrade over 2013 starter Thomas DeCoud. Because the Saints only tendered Bush at the original-round level, New Orleans won't be entitled to draft-pick compensation if they decide not to match the offer. Apr 4 - 8:32 PM


Source: New Orleans Advocate

He will be better this year but it appears he would rather play for the Falcons anyway. I say let him go get another safety as backup and target him when we play the Falcons.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

I don't remember him being great in coverage... Just a hard-hitter. Big gamble for Atlanta.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

With the pressure they don't get on the QB, no one is good in coverage for them :rofl:

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

He is very good in coverage. In fact he's good at everything. There are no weaknesses in Bush's game. We are going to regret letting him go.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

agree with you.

I think he was rated our best DB (aside from Lewis) by PFF.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Are you related to him? There are no weaknesses in his game? The guy wasn't good enough to steal the free safety job from the awful Malcolm Jenkins and you're telling me that he's good at everything and there are no weaknesses in his game?! So much so that we went out and broke the bank for Byrd and let Bush go for no compensation?! C'mon man.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

he plays well Saints need to find the money to keep him.most likely a first year loaded deal harder to match but time to redo a contract with another player an find the money.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

6 passes defended and 1 interception,60 tackles in 29(586 snsps)games over 2 years. A good player but if the team thought he was worth more they would have offered him the second round tender.
He doesn't want to be here so let him go.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Keenan Lewis shutting down half the backfield, Kenny Vaccaro in front on you, with Jordan, Galette, and Co. providing pressure on the QB... Saints FS seems a cushy job.

Fans love big hits, and Bush managed to hit 2 receivers hard enough and high enough that they left the game (not to mention that one of them was a stiff wind hitting his face away from another concussion). So I guess that's why the love for Rafael Bush.

I never saw him past being a solid player on a good defense.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Agreed, he was our 3rd/4th safety all season. I'm sure if he were that great he would have been ahead of Harper and Jenkins on the depth chart.

All we had to do to guarantee we'd keep him was to place the 2nd round tender on him for a measly 800K more.

Ryan knew how to use him to his strengths and avoid placing him in spots to be exploited. He helped bracket WR's and TE's and played a lot of deep zone. I don't even remember when Ryan used him manned up on a TE or WR like Vaccaro Harper and Jenkins did.

I have a feeling that as a starter in traditional 2-safety sets, Atlanta is going to find out he's merely an average NFL safety, perhaps slightly above average at best.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

i think the reason he was not tendered at the 2nd round rate was the fact at that date the saints had hardly any cap space an the minimum tender bought time to cut players trade sproles sign some targeted players etc.the hit he put on the seachiken player in the playoffs set the tone to tell seackens Saints came to play for the rematch game.Its not that much money match it an baring someone gets hurt the Saints are set at the saftey position.will be a big mistake to not match offer of falclowns.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

No, I am not related to him, and saying that he has no weakness in his game is not the same as calling him elite.

And you are wrong about the Jenkins thing as well because by the end of the year Jenkins was playing mostly nickel corner. Bush was the guy covering the deep half of the field, not Jenkins.

Paying 2 million for a player of his caliber is a no-brainer. Safeties that can cover man-to-man, play zone, tackle, hit and get in on running plays near the line of scrimmage don't exactly grow on trees. I don't know what the FO was thinking here.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

I agree Bush is a good player and will play well for the ****clowns but the FO is thinking: Lewis, Byrd, Vaccaro and Bailey... I don't know where Bush fits in that picture, not to mention you got White and Robinson still plus the draft.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Don't get me wrong. I almost never doubt the front office in most things they do. But letting Bush go is the one thing they've done so far this offseason that I have a hard time understanding.

I don't think it's going to cripple the secondary or anything like that. But he was a player on the rise. 2 years from now we'll be losing a 38-year-old Champ Bailey to retirement and getting nothing in return, meanwhile Bush will be at his athletic peak and playing for our biggest rival.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

how can you be so sure? From what I saw, Ryan is able to play all his players to their strengths. Can we be sure that Nolan will be able to get the same production from him; without the pass rush that we had last season not too mention the Falcons don't have the secondary we had to help take some of the pressure off...

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

I only meant in terms of age; it is pretty well-accepted that most athletes peak around the ages of 28-30.

Will Bush be great for the Falcons? I don't know that, because of the reasons you mention. But I do know he was very good for us.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Nolan will use him to his strengths, he's a good coach. I think Bush will do OK there.

My point is that here he was not an irreplaceable player in Ryans system. He was a solid role player. Kinda like the safety version of Fujita.

Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

All you guys are pouting and moaning while Loomis is using his voodoo magic to bring him back, glad to have you for another 2 years Bush


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Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Allrighty then.... Jersey is safe for another two years!

Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Loomis isn't as happy about this match as Saints fans are.

He just paid more than he wanted to for Bush, and Atlanta was the reason.

This decision coming down to the final day says a lot about it.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

The decision actually was a full day before the deadline, which is today. Making the decision well before he had to says a lot about it.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

Should have drug it out to the last minute, just to make it sting those Falcon fans a little bit more :rofl:

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

That's what I would have done.

As for paying too much, his new salary is only $800K more than what we had tendered him for anyway. The Falcons are the ones who dropped the ball there; if they wanted him that bad they should've offered something that the Saints couldn't or wouldn't be willing to match. An extra 800K is a drop in the bucket when you're talking about a $140 million cap.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

In terms of NFL Safetys he is now a top 31 in ave pay.

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

My bad, you are correct.

Loomis tendered a guy he wanted to keep on the 6th of March. Bush signs an offer from the Falcons on the 3rd of April, confesses he hopes the Saints do not match the offer on the 4th of April, then Loomis matches the offer on the 7th of April, nearly 24 full hours before the deadline.

That seem correct?

Re: Rafael Bush Signs Offer Sheet
 

And according to this article he is the 12th rated safety in the league.

B/R NFL 1000: Top 75 Safeties | Bleacher Report

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.