GoldenTomb

Ah...treading carefully I see....

I know what you mean. Believe it or not I\'ve been a loyal visitor of this site for about 2 years now, so I\'ve seen all of the pro-AB and anti-AB posts, though I rarely post. I guess people thought it was time for a break.

I have my opinion on the matter. Though I don\'t think we should just dump AB, we should start with a legitimate contingency plan to enact in case he continues to plateau for a 5th straight year. I believe San Diego played their hand perfectly, and it\'s what we should do. Saying that we shouldn\'t draft a QB because AB is sensitive to criticism is the wrong answer. Competitors thrive in that situation(i.e. Drew Brees). If he would tank, then it would only further validate the belief that he doesn\'t have the intangibles to be the QB for us.

If I were AB...at some point I would ask myself....why am I not winning and putting up the numbers like a Peyton Manning, Brett Farve, Dante Culpepper, or even Michael Vick? Those guys mentioned above, espeicially Peyton Manning, have shown a personal commitment to improve their game, as opposed to pointing the finger to teammates as to the reason why they\'re not progressing.

The attitude comes first.....you show a winning attitude....it rubs off on others...THEN you win. You don\'t win the champtionship, then get the drive and winning attitude.

Unfortunately if AB hasn\'t gotten it by now, you have to wonder if anything here in NO can make him get it besides serious competition.

saintswhodi

You better believe it, I am burned out. :comp03: I am not anxious to get in one of those again.

I like your San Diego point, but San Diego had no idea Brees was gonna make the change, and they were ready to part with him after this year. Had Rivers NOT held out, he would have been the opening day starter. That situation was unique, and Brees definitely showed how much of a competitor he is. San Diego was also a team that was annual bottom dwellars, and have had numerous high picks recently. It had to come together sooner or later.

I am of the opinion for our team, if we are gonna keep Brooks, which they seem determined to do, we only need a solid back up and just hope he cuts out the mistakes. That\'s all we can do. Hope he matures and the light goes on. I know this is a lot of hoping, but it\'s all we can do for now. Drafting Smith that high, especially if we have to trade up, is not a wise move. If he is there when we draft, I am fine with it. But if we are making moves to get him, we better be moving AB for some defense or some solid offensive line or some other decent draft picks to put around him. I don\'t think AB is the type to perform better because of competition. I definitely don\'t see him being a mentor to the QB of the future. His attitude alone will ruin that dynamic. If there is one thing AB is not, it is humble, and I would be afraid he would hurt the dude\'s growth. Then we just wasted a high pick or more after trading up for a QB who won\'t have the proper support system around him to be a success.

Euphoria

saintswhodi
After our debate over Brees, I say I have to finally agree with you... moving up to snag Smith is a mistake. Just don\'t see it happening with all the areas of need. Smith will not be there at 16 either. Drafting where we are is a good position maybe even sliding back to get a OL.

GoldenTomb

I agree with most of what you said. I feel that....AS or not, we should trade up. We need a difference maker, and there won\'t be one at pick 16. However if were to stay at 16 and not pick him, that would be idiotic, if just for the pure value of the pick. Trades can be made afterwards, but why pass AS up at 16????

Brooks has matured as much as he\'s going to. He\'s freakin 28. and halfway through his career. He should be peaking now, not emerging. When you see that a stock is not rising in value for some time now, you consider it fully valued and sell. Keeping it any longer is just waiting for the bubble to pop. The business of football is no different.

Can AB be a better quarterback than he is right now? I have no doubt. Will he....no, at least not here in NO?

He is entrenched as the starting QB....what willingness does he have to progress his game? I feel he will have a similar year, stats wise, in \'05. If our defense improves we can make the playoffs in a still weak NFC. But it won\'t be because AB matured.

So we can live with him being our quarterback and we can win, if our D improves. My point is...the D, along with everyone else, should strive to improve. And AB has shown that he doesn\'t feel a need to do that....nor has the front office indicated that he needs to.

We, being Saints fans, have to learn to adapt in constantly adverse situations, as evidenced by my post.

Euphoria

We agree on AS but I have to disagree about moving up and snagging a difference maker. We have to many holes and we aren\'t getting any younger. We need talent overall, we can\'t match up with the Pats... they go after good talent across the board. You can get a quality player in the first 2 maybe 3 rounds if you are smart drafting and developing... I am not wanting to trade Howard but makes sense in the long run to get a 2nd for him, then possible trading other picks to move up also and getting a steal in the 4th.

E U P H O R I A

GoldenTomb

See that is a good idea in theory, but how long have you been following the New Orleans Saints? This is not a franchise known for it\'s mid and late-round scouting prowess. Other teams, who have highly talented scouts, can spot \"diamosds in the rough\". Most, if not all of the highly productive players on our team THAT WE DRAFTED were drafted in the first round. This team seems to go with the mentality of \"Let\'s listen to what Mel Kiper says for the first round, and we pick all of the others ourselves\". Our pick record from rounds 2 on back are atrocious, with the exception of Darren Howard.

It seems like the only thing this team can count on from the draft is the first pick, because the later rounds just haven\'t panned out over the past 10 years or so. I say the best strategy for the first round is to swing for the fences, but not in the overboard Ricky Willams way.

JKool

A fine view.

I don\'t agree. Looking at most mocks, it looks like there may be difference makers at SS, DT, DE, and perhaps even A. Smith at 16. The only one we don\'t need is DE.

I\'m certainly not opposed to Smith. I just don\'t think I\'d trade Howard (or someone comparable) and our #16 to move up a handful of spots for Smith. I\'d rather trade down, if we\'re going to move. I don\'t think we can get up high enough to get Johnson, and after him, I don\'t see a playmaker that we NEED; we can get an available playmaker at 16 (though it may have to be BPA instead of a specific player) and not give up anything else.

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

johnnythesaint

So in the Johnathan Sullivan kind of way?

GoldenTomb

Absolutely...at least that\'s the mentality that you need to have to make a difference in this league. They got burned because of poor talent evaluation. Personally I thought they were trading up to get Terrell Suggs. I didn\'t even know who Sully was. I had 4 DTs rated ahead of him(McDougle, Robertson, Joseph, Williams). Does that mean that we should go hide in a corner and refuse to take any more risks?? If we were to trade up to get DJ and he crashed and burned, I don\'t think anyone would attribute it to bad talent evaluation.


I think I phrased what I meant wrong. Personally I think DJ is a can\'t-miss prospect, and that\'s what we need. There are no can\'t miss prospects at 16. If we give up Howard(who we\'re not keeping anyway) and a 3rd, then I say you pull the trigger and snag DJ. SINCE DJ MIGHT NOT BE THERE ANYWAY....looking at AS if he is there wouldn\'t be out of the question.

JKool

That makes sense GT. A can\'t miss player is different from a difference maker player.