Saints Free Agency News

CanLoomis · 03-06-2005, 03:14 PM

It all goes back to the front office. If a team has a staff of personnel people in place who are excellent talent evaluators, they can find some mid-late round \"gems\" in any given draft class. The Saints aren\'t blessed with a great front office. Mickey Loomis, Rick Mueller, Russ Ball, and the others have yet to put together a solid draft class from top to bottom. Last year\'s class has some promise, but the three year window is not yet up.

Teams must rebuild and re-load through the youth movement. We\'ve had some questionable draft choices that we have taken high and they have yet to pay off. Johnathan Sullivan was the most recent. Donte Stallworth, while a solid NFL player, has yet to reach the status set for him by the staff for being the 13th pick overall. The Saints have a tendancy to reach for player\'s on draft day. Cie Grant was rated by many teams as 5th rounder because he was injured a lot in college and played a number of different positions while at OSU. He has never been healthy here and it looks as though he won\'t ever be a factor in a Saints uniform.

I really think with the 16th and 40 picks overall, we have some ability to move up, if necassary, but I am not a believe in that. I think we have a lot of holes to fill on this team and I\'d like to see us add some more draft picks. We still need to draft a young CB with upside and get him developed as a nickel back who can eventually start within his first year or two. This is a priority, as we cannot keep waiting anymore to draft a player who is fresh and ready to be coached in our scheme.

The NFL Scouting Combine just ended last week and Saints officials were meeting with a number of different players. They will also take full advantage of the NFL maximum of 20 pre-draft visits by invited draftees prior to the draft. It all goes back to the draft guys. We draft well, we stay contenders and continue to get younger and faster, and more talented. We draft poorly or inconsitently and we remain a team who is in the middle of the pack and a team who signs \"stop gap\" players just to make a 53 man roster. We can no longer afford to have high picks on the in-active list.

03-06-2005, 03:14 PM	#11
CanLoomis Registered Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Metairie Posts: 30	Saints Free Agency News It all goes back to the front office. If a team has a staff of personnel people in place who are excellent talent evaluators, they can find some mid-late round \"gems\" in any given draft class. The Saints aren\'t blessed with a great front office. Mickey Loomis, Rick Mueller, Russ Ball, and the others have yet to put together a solid draft class from top to bottom. Last year\'s class has some promise, but the three year window is not yet up. Teams must rebuild and re-load through the youth movement. We\'ve had some questionable draft choices that we have taken high and they have yet to pay off. Johnathan Sullivan was the most recent. Donte Stallworth, while a solid NFL player, has yet to reach the status set for him by the staff for being the 13th pick overall. The Saints have a tendancy to reach for player\'s on draft day. Cie Grant was rated by many teams as 5th rounder because he was injured a lot in college and played a number of different positions while at OSU. He has never been healthy here and it looks as though he won\'t ever be a factor in a Saints uniform. I really think with the 16th and 40 picks overall, we have some ability to move up, if necassary, but I am not a believe in that. I think we have a lot of holes to fill on this team and I\'d like to see us add some more draft picks. We still need to draft a young CB with upside and get him developed as a nickel back who can eventually start within his first year or two. This is a priority, as we cannot keep waiting anymore to draft a player who is fresh and ready to be coached in our scheme. The NFL Scouting Combine just ended last week and Saints officials were meeting with a number of different players. They will also take full advantage of the NFL maximum of 20 pre-draft visits by invited draftees prior to the draft. It all goes back to the draft guys. We draft well, we stay contenders and continue to get younger and faster, and more talented. We draft poorly or inconsitently and we remain a team who is in the middle of the pack and a team who signs \"stop gap\" players just to make a 53 man roster. We can no longer afford to have high picks on the in-active list.