Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Lets start with the best of the worst:
Pro Football Focus has given the New Orleans Saints off season grade a C-. Let's exam their thinking.

New Orleans Saints

Grade: C-
Key retentions: CB Kyle Wilson, G Tim Lelito
Key additions: TE Coby Fleener, LB James Laurinaitis, LB Nathan Stupar
Key losses: WR Marques Colston, TE Ben Watson, CB Brandon Browner, HB Khiry Robinson, G Jahri Evans
Up against the salary cap, the Saints were forced to move on from a few players, including starters Marques Colston and Jahri Evans. They also moved on from Brandon Browner, but after his penalty-riddled season that left him by far the lowest-graded corner in nine years of PFF grading, his absence could be seen as addition by subtraction.

Blah Blah Blah ................... Their explanation


Now let us look at Walter Football's grading:
Walter Football has since updated their grades for the Saints since 3-28-16, where they had given us a F. They now also have us grading a C-. Still comparing us to Matt Millen seems a little harsh.

New Orleans Saints: C-
Acquired: TE Coby Fleener, DT Nick Fairley, OLB Nathan Stupar, ILB James Laurinaitis.
Lost: RB Khiry Robinson, WR Marques Colston, TE Ben Watson, G Jahri Evans, DT Kevin Williams, ILB David Hawthorne, CB Brandon Browner.

Blah Blah Blah ................... Their explanation

The experts over at ESPN give the Saints the lowest grade at D+. You can follow their link for the grades on all 32 teams but it requires Insider Access, so I'll post the Saints grade below. free-agency-grades-all-32-nfl-teams

New Orleans Saints

Grade: D-plus

Re-signed: FB Austin Johnson, CB Kyle Wilson, G Senio Kelemete, TEMichael Hoomanawanui, K Kai Forbath, RB Travaris Cadet, QB Luke McCown, S Jamarca Sanford, TE Josh Hill
Signed: TE Coby Fleener, LB Nathan Stupar, LB James Laurinaitis, LB Craig Robertson, DT Nick Fairley, K Josh Scobee
Lost/cut: S Rafael Bush, TE Benjamin Watson, G Jahri Evans, LB David Hawthorne, LB Ramon Humber, WR Seantavius Jones, WR Marques Colston, CB Brandon Browner, RB Khiry Robinson
The Saints need to upgrade their defense, but their big-ticket purchase was for a receiving tight end in Fleener. Coach Sean Payton said the team simply wanted to add another quality player, which was fine, but the Saints remain a flawed team with burdensome salary-cap limitations.
"I do not have a lot of confidence in anything these guys do," Riddick said. "Coby will be Jimmy Graham lite, but beyond that, what did they do?"
Dominik said some of the Saints' moves could become addition by subtraction depending upon how New Orleans fills holes in the draft.
"They are constantly redoing deals and Brees could be the one they redo to create a ton of space," Yates said. "If the Saints were to spend big for something this offseason, I never would have guessed it would have been on Coby Fleener. It feels like the Saints are going about this one year at a time from a cap standpoint. They have also lost veteran leadership."

Blah Blah Blah ................... Their explanation

Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly - Canal Street Chronicles

Key question will be this:
Will Coby Fleener join Browner, Byrd and Spiller as all overpaid and under performing for various reasons

Other moves made?
Cap causalities and age. Youth movement is in full swing it would appear. I like the additions for depth and the boost they can give a poor special teams play.

Kool aid anyone?
Fleener, Laurinaitis, Fairley, Byrd and Spiller all earn their pay checks and not one misses a game. live up to or exceed expectation, which for most should not be hard based on previous years production.

Big surprise prediction?
Nathan Stupar and Michael Mauti make the coverage unit a thing to fear. Need a Gunner or two

A boring off season for the most part with one serious head scratching but this is an annual tradition lately.

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Yeah! I won't lose any sleep because of what they thinks. The fact that they gives the Saints Cs, Ds and Fs gives me hope.

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

I agree we overpaid for Fleener, but the rest were pretty good deals. Maybe we were dinged because several of our additions were really back-ups and special teamers.
Considering the cap space we had I thought we did an excellent job filling some holes.
All things considered I'd give us a C-plus or even a B-minus.
We're in a youth movement. We have a ton of young talent from last year that should keep developing nicely.

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Maybe the grade s should wait until after the assignment.. I mean season is completed?

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Hell Danno says we have a C-plus! WTF... a C-+? That's practically an "A" for most of us.
Plus you forgot the Roddy White deal.

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5ggAAO...QNK/s-l500.jpg

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Yeah, the Fleener deal was $5 million too much, but all of the others are low-risk High reward.
If 2 of the 4 defensive players crack the lineup and produce then the grade is an A just based on price
But, outsider looking in, hard to disagree with C-

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

Just getting Brandon Browner out of town should count double.

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

**** PFF

Re: Bottom of the Barrel: Saints Off Season Moves Grade Poorly
 

He leaves a big void...
who is going to step up and get called for 21 penalties in his place?