The lack of finding starters and solid role players in the draft the last few years has been the main reason for having to reach/overpay for some FA's. The draft is the key. It's full of defensive talent this year. If he misses again this year, the talk of him being on the hot seat is understandable.

A lot of players he listed as flat out failures were not failures at all, and most were bottom of the roster guys at near vet minimum.

Pretty bad read.

We added Ireland who has a good eye for talent and improved our draft last year while adding several starters.

The scouting department went through a shake up this year and we have new faces in the front office that should improve our odds of finding good players to fit the system.

I'm feeling optimistic.

Wouldn't call these vet minimums: Jason David (RFA/4 year & 4th round pick), Shaun Rogers (4 mil/1 year), Aubrayo Franklin (4 mil/1 year), Curtis Lofton (27.5 mil/5 year), Ben Grubbs (36 mil/5 year*), Brodrick Bunkley (25 mil/5 year), David Hawthorne (19 mil/5 year), Jairus Byrd (56 mil/6 year), C.J. Spiller (18 mil/4 year)...

And several of these contracts had to be rolled over year to year to get under the cap...

Though in the case of Franklin, he was 3-4 NT signed to play in Williams 4-3 front which was a poor fit from the start (i.e. round peg, square hole)...

Mark Ingram...one dimensional...are you serious?

He caught 50...Yes...50 passes for 405 yards and an 8.1 yard per catch average last year.

A guy that recorded 1174 all purpose yards in only 12 games last year is hardly one dimensional!

Ingram gets so much hate for no reason, he's never in trouble, he represents the team well and gives his all on the field.

Plus the guy has averaged over 4.3 yards per carry over his career and has 26 TD's for us, I think people take him for granted an awful lot!

I'm calling BS!!! The story could be written from several perspectives. I'm betting this guy is a pessimist and friendless as well.

We added Ireland who has a good eye for talent and improved our draft last year while adding several starters.

The scouting department went through a shake up this year and we have new faces in the front office that should improve our odds of finding good players to fit the system.

I'm feeling optimistic.

Sigh....Loomis doesnt choose the players. He just finds the money for the players Payton chooses. Loomis doesnt even have the authority to rein Payton in as some people like to believe. Its not a typical GM/Coach relationship in the Saints organization. Loomis is a great GM. His latest moves should throw any doubt out the window. Especially the Fairly deal.