Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

The New Orleans Saints’ first gamble didn’t pay off. They hoped to retain restricted-free-agent safety Rafael Bush at a discount rate of $1.4 million.

But then the division-rival Atlanta Falcons swooped in and tried to steal Bush away from them. And that was a risk the Saints weren’t willing to take.


Bush
The Saints matched Atlanta’s offer for Bush (reportedly worth up to $4.5 million over two years). Even though the Saints are tight on salary-cap space, they figured losing Bush to the Falcons was the kind of double whammy they couldn’t afford.

Bush, 26, is a player on the rise. And he was starting to establish himself as a bruising hitter in the open field by the end of last season.

Now New Orleans is suddenly loaded with depth in the secondary -- and the Falcons are still searching for a starting safety.

Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go - NFC South Blog - ESPN

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Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

:bng:

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Same thing I've been saying all along. You don't develop young players like this and just let them walk right when they start getting good. Especially not when they cost practically nothing.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Plus you never want to lose a player with knowledge of a playbook to a division rival.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

You can when the money runs out.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Not ideal but also not the end of the world. Players make plays. And just look at how our roster turned over this year.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Consistency kills. Keep as many players as possible from year to year and your team percentage wise will always come out better than someone with a lot of turn over year to year. Just one part of the winning game

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go..........oh, I see what they're doing.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

We most certainly could have afforded to let him go. In fact, it could've worked to our advantage to let Atlanta start our backup safety... You know, Bush not being that great of a free safety.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

[QUOTE=saintsfan1976;587465]You can when the money runs out.[/QUOte.

Not when you have one of the best counterfeiters in the business.
You go Mickey.............

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Or we could keep a good young player that works well within our system and not let him take his knowledge of our schemes to our biggest rival. I think I vote for the latter. Seems Payton and Loomis must think he was worth keeping around even at a big pay raise. So no point in trying to run him down at this point.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

I think that this is a good thing. Bush has proven himself last season and a lot of Rob Ryan's 3rd down sets included three safety sets in which Vaccaro ended up playing a rover nickelback (which he could blitz and use his cover skills on tight ends and slot receivers). Bush knows the playbook and he is extremely good in tackling in open field which we all know the Saints have been lacking the last few years. I am not sold on the new safety that was signed---enjoyed the Youtube video on him but think he needs half a season to catch up to NFL. I believe in the direction that Mickey and Sean is going with team.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

I really doubt Bush signing with Atlanta would've given them more insight into Rob Ryan's schemes than they already have with the years and years of game tape out there of Rob's defenses.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Not really sure how I feel about this. If Atlanta ups the offer I think we should bow out.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

They can't I think... They will have to trade for him now... Once we matched their offer he is ours for the duration of their contract offer, which was 2 years 4.25 million total...

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

No can do, we now own him for two years. He is no longer a RFA.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

This is awesome ! I have a really great feeling about this season folks.... get ready ! We are gunna make some noise ! Black and Gold to the SB ! ! !

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

We need depth.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

But if they do have to make another move, they will. As we’ve chronicled many times this offseason, the Saints have been more willing than any team in the NFL to push their cap costs into future years. The Saints will eventually have to pay those bills, but they figure they can catch up whenever quarterback Drew Brees retires.

now get drew an OC and new weapons and lets make the gamble payoff

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Our secondary is officially very frightening. Oh what joyous news this is. I was having a ho hum day until this came along. Awesome. :)

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Anybody got a gif of that guy in the AllState commercial with the fishing pole and the dollar? How appropriate for ATL. Oh, you almost got him, almost, hahahahahahahah.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

bush's game really came along after all the injuries the secondary had last season. loomis and payton had to keep this guy in this system. he could have had an offer from Katmandu and we would have brought him back.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

What Loomis did was really smart.

I'm guessing that Loomis had this figured out before he did it.

He didn't have to set the market value for Bush. I would guess he had a number in his head of what Bush was worth to the Saints but why lead with that? He tendered him to the lowest tender possible. Then any other team that wanted Bush and thought he was worth more then the 1.4mill/year, would have to name a price. The Saints who had him on the roster, placed his value at $1.4 million. So the other team wouldn't want to pay more than they had to, to get him. There's no way of knowing what Loomis though Bush was truly worth, but we know it was more than the 2.25mil/year that the falcons offered.

Re: Saints couldn't afford to let Bush go
 

Our off season has been entertainment. Loomis has been slaying it. Our secondary one starting CB away from being awesome. If PROB can get right and fulfill his potential ???? A CB in the draft to add depth ? As a group the secondary has gone from a concern to a strength. As usual Mr Loomis has put us in position of being able to pick BPA. IF we nail this draft like we nailed last yr look out!!!