saintz08

BENSON REGRETTING EXTENSIONS

As the New Orleans Saints dropped three straight games to below-.500 foes, missing the playoffs for the second straight season, a league source tells us that owner Tom Benson is kicking himself for giving contract extensions to G.M. Mickey Loomis and coach Jim Haslett.

According to the source, Benson is doubting his decision to lock up Loomis and Haslett, wondering instead whether he should have waited to hire a new coach/G.M. after the completion of the 2002 season.

Among other things, Benson thinks that Loomis overpaid quarterback Aaron Brooks, who had a second straight disappointing season. (Then again, Loomis had a reputation of paying too much for players when he was the contract guy in Seattle; Benson overlooked all of that when the team got off to a strong start in 2002.)

Loomis is locked up through 2006, and Haslett likewise has four more years with the Saints. As a result, don't be shocked if Benson begins shopping the team (again) within the next year or so.

WhoDat

God I hope he doesn\'t start shopping the team around. If the Saints get sold it won\'t be to anyone in New Orleans. I don\'t think there is a person in the state with the, what 300 plus million dollars needed to buy the team. Here we go again with the moving talk. Didn\'t they just seal up a deal to keep the team in NO through 2010?

saintz08

And we all know Taglipew has a real woody for the L.A. market and that aint Louisianna .

You have got to know Benson is dieing over the latest meltdown . The worst part is that Haslett is denying it was a meltdown , to him it was business as usual . Now if that does not make an owner wonder , what would ......

FWtex

I am sure Benson is wishing this team had played better down the stretch after giving the 3 key people (HAZ, LOOM, Brooks) in the organization new contracts but he is a businessman. He may be questioning those contract like anyone would but I don\'t think he is beating his head against the wall in regret.

I would think, like any business, you look at all possible scenarios before making long term commitments. Mr. Benson would not have given contracts to these 3 individuals if there was not a period of time he was willing to commit to while at the same time taking the close look at the point of diminishing returns. In essence, I think Mr. Benson is willing to eat the contract of one of the 3 next year if the team does not improve. If play does not improve after that then he would be in good position to eat the other 2 contracts without loosing too much return for his money.

Personally, I think Mr. Benson gets misplaced blame thrown his way. Benson was the saints savior when he purchased this team from the spoiled John Mecom who had no interest in seeing the saints win anything. Benson has been one of the better owners in the league yet the fans fail to see this. His approach is to bring in a football professional to run the team and gives this person quite a bit of trust to run the team. Mr Benson has given this team Jim Finks, one of the best GM\'s in football, Jim Mora - a solid coach until he married Carl Smith, Mike Ditka - thats what the fans and everyone wanted, Randy Mueller - another solid football hire but who knows what really happened.

The fans and people in New Orleans should be proud of Tom Benson for being a local who purchased this team and kept them in New Orleans. I think he is devoted to owning the saints and keeping them in New Orleans until another local with deep roots in New Orleans offers him fair market value. I guarantee you, had an outsider owned the saints and not Tom Benson, New Orleans would be without an NFL team today.

WhoDat

FW - I like your post. Nice point of view. I think Benson isn\'t quite the Saint you\'re portraying him to be, but you\'re mostly right. One thing - Benson made his money in San Antonio. That\'s where \"he\'s from.\" He opened dealerships in New Orleans, yes, but he\'s not a \"native.\" At least, I don\'t think so.

The problem is Benson is getting old. If he sells the team, it won\'t go to someone else in New Orleans. It will go to LA, Portland, San Antonio, or somewhere else. If he dies and the team goes to his kids, they may not be interested in keeping it in NO, even if they are interested in owning it. After all, they grew up in San Antonio. Their ties to New Orleans are not tight.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"

FWtex

WhoDat you are mostly wrong. Benson is a native of New Orleans< ninth ward area I believe> Yes he has family in San Antonio but he still has family and VERY close ties in the New Orleans area. If you had the option of living in S.A. or New Orleans yet could still travel anytime you wanted to the other, you too would choose San Antonio. I would say he is 90% loyal to New Orleans and 10% to San Antonio. The dealerships in San Antonio have been run by one of his kids for quite some time but the Corp. HQ has always been in the New Orleans area.

saintz08

I personally think Benson is a great man for keeping the team in New Orleans and his screaming about money sometimes gets twisted . Bottom line is that with teams like the Cowboys , the market is larger and Benson does need some help to compete . He is an owner that does not want to have a team like the Bungles in New Orleans . He has hired people that were considered tops in their field throughout his ownership , and has spent great amounts of time in researching them. In my opinion , he has done nothing but attempt to bring class to a once dismal organization .

\"Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn\'t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.\" - George S. Patton
On another note, I\'ll take a bite of that crow 08. - Saintfan
Brooks is a moron!! - Halo