Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Saints | Smith Agrees to Terms - from www.KFFL.com
Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:17:27 -0800

Jay Glazer, of FOX Sports, reports the New Orleans Saints have agreed to terms with free agent S Dwight Smith (Buccaneers) on a five-year deal believed to be worth $15 million, including a signing bonus in the $3.5 million range.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

YEAH!

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Bye Bye T$E

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

I heard the deal isn\'t signed yet just a verbal??? I wonder if he is going to be packing his pellet gun on the field.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Okay, he may turn into the guy from last boy scout who shot that other player on the field, but I am happy as hell. I hope he plays corner though. We would be stout there. hopefully we still get Kennedy or Darius. But now I am officially happier. :broccoli:

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

You are right. But when I read \"agreed to terms\" its 99% a done deal.
Of couse if I had to choose a team that the 1% chance of the deal falling thru might apply to, its, well you all know who.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

YEAH, TOO!!! On the right path now.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

:heartpump: :killtard: :multiplespotting:

OK, so now what?

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Sign Hartwell, and I just might faint! :heartpump:

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Trading Howard would give us the money to seriously push for Hartwell, now that Bell is failing physicals. I am with Danno, I would pass out if this happened. I don\'t think i\'d stop smiling for weeks. Even if we got Kennedy or Darius I think I may move into giddy. Then we actually may be able to go BPA in the draft, or depending what we get for Howard, make a serious move to get DJ. I know, all speculation, but I am so happy we made a move on the defensive side of the ball for an actual proven good player I am elated.

[Edited on 7/3/2005 by saintswhodi]

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

hell yeah...the plan is coming together.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

yahoo sports

I assume we\'ll move him to FS huh? Or will he stay a SS.
Not a big difference in SS/FS in Tampa\'s cover-two, so I\'d imagined he\'s equally suited for FS also, especially being a former CB, with 4.49 speed.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

All we need is Ty Law and a weapon to destroy the New England area and we\'ll TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

:whip:

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Danno, I could kiss you man. ;)

GREAT NEWS!!!

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

My pessimism is slowly waning. :D This is great news if it is true.

So far the team is showing renewed vigor towards free agency. Let\'s hope it continues.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

If I\'m not mistaken I think he\'s also a stud special teams guy. Can\'t remember where I read it but I do recall reading it.

I never really liked McDonalds anyway, well except when the McRib\'s back. ;)

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

can we?? death to the patriots redsox and celtics..that would rock-esp. if we could take new york with it.....but on to other things..great signing.

can he be given a bonus for shooting sully in the Arse with his pellet gun every time sully goes close to a buffet?

[Edited on 7/3/2005 by baronm]

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

This is going to be a huge addition to our secondary. This is exactly what we needed. In all liklihood, Smith will be moved to FS and replace T-sucky Jones. The great thing about Dwight is that he is a versatile player who can play CB at a pretty high level. When I saw him at Akron when he was coming out, he had all of the tools and fundamentals to be starting CB in the league. This is cause for excitement. Certainly we\'ve made two very SOLID moves. Nothing extravagant or sexy, but two positions we needed to address with good players and we have done that. Ed Hartwell should be the next pin to fall.....I HOPE!!!!

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

I read in an article earlier today that he \"hopes to play corner at the team he signs with\". I don\'t think that\'ll be the case here, but you never know.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

well.if we got davis for the safety then moved him back to CB..we\'d have a hard hitting defensive backfeild.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Honestly, I hope he does play corner. And I hope we continue to look at Kennedy or Darius. I can take Jay at FS for this year if we get Dariius or sign Kennedy, or if we draft Thomas Davis. Smith can fill the void of us not re-signing Craft if we don\'t, and losing Ambrose. Depth chart would be MM, Smith, Brown, Thomas, and we can draft a guy later. S would be Bellamy, and Kennedy, Darius, or Davis fromt he draft. I would like that better. But either way, we got him, and that\'s what matters.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

here\'s a small article on the signing:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/3445528

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Glad to see this. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Now I need to hear something about LB and DT. I\'m not prepared to call FA a success until those positions are addressed.

I\'m very happy about this move, and the Mayberry signing seems to be a good one too. The issue is need for me. Remember, most people had our needs listed something like this before FA:

1. OLB
2. OT
3. DT
4. OLB
5. MLB
6. S

...

I don\'t remember anyone screaming about guard, and S was down this list some. If Mayberry plays RT, then we\'ve got two of our top needs. That makes me happy. But, IMO, the biggest problem spot on the field continues to be linebacker. Let\'s see what they do...

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Another article, this one from the official site. Haslett says he\'ll stay at free safety:

http://www.neworleanssaints.com/news...articleid=1299

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Okay, so everyone seems happy about this and I understand why.
I like D Smith\'s skills (although this should still be Sammy Knight\'s job, but I digress).
Is it just me, or does a guy with weapons charges in New Orleans not seem like a recipe for another disaster? This city seems to bring out the worst in people and that scares me. If it were just the bb gun thing, I wouldn\'t be worried, but there is another charge out there.

I thought we were placing an emphasis on character guys, that\'s all I\'m saying. If this one blows up in our face, it is a direct indictment of our front office and personnel people for not learning from their mistakes.

We DO need a ball hawking FS...I get that. Tebucky was terrible in that regard. Here\' to hoping that Smith can come here and stay out of bar fights and/or not pull guns on people :)

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

yeah-but in New orleans he pulls a pellet gun on someone they\'ll pull a .38 on him and use it...

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

I posted those same concerns when it was first said we were interested. But at the point we were getting to, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. At least we signed someone who should help our D. Apparently the explanations he gave satisfied the Saints FO, not saying much but it\'s something. Let\'s hope he brings the right attitude, and stays off the NO police blotter.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Those charges are probably the only reason we managed to sign him at all.

Think about it, if he\'d stayed clean, we would\'ve been outbidded, and he\'d already have signed with another team.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

This is me crossing my fingers :dunce:

We\'ve signed 2 guys who have been to the big game that fill needs. I like the way it\'s headed. I just hope Smith plays nice. I can\'t remember the last time a character concern guy came to NO and excelled. I mean Riley didn\'t have any more domestic abuse charges, but he certainly didn\'t make the Pro Bowl.

Guys like Will Smith/Bentley/Grant/Deuce make me feel like we\'re trying to get some people who are also good off the field. It may just be hard to keep the rap sheet clean in today\'s NFL.

It\'s funny, my baseball team is the Braves and they are the opposite of the Saints. When they sign guys who have previously had problems, they never have problems in Atlanta. There is a long list of question marks who come to Atl and act as model citizens. We\'ll see if Mondesi can play nice this year :)

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

\'Bout time, eh?

Finally the correct side of the ball is addressed. What happens to Tesucky now? Who cares...?

Whodi may be on to something regarding the CB move, though all reports say he\'ll stay at safety. Those rules may change if there\'s any seriousness to the Darius trade rumors. Then again, Smith is versatile, so who\'s to say we couldn\'t have both Darius and Smith at safety? I could live with that.

Anybody got any thoughts on how this may affect the rumored drafting of Thomas Davis?

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

That\'s what I wanted. Let Smith play CB, move Bellamy to FS for a year, and draft Davis. Then we would be able to get picks for Howard instead of trading for Darius, and his big contract wants. He is also 30. With the extra picks we can make a move for DJ, or draft a corner in the second round, and prep him to move to a starter next year, and move Smith to FS next year. Then we would have Smith and Davis as our safeties. Wow. With MM and a young corner from the draft in 2006. We would also not have Howard\'s contract, and can work deals for Deuce and Horn(if necessary). Just thoughts.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Saints have been rumored to draft about everyone, from Jamaal Brown, Anttaj Hawthorne, and Thomas Davis all the way to Alex Smith. We probably won\'t know who the Saints want until the pick gets to the podium.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Trying to make projections based on what the Saints will do in the draft is pointless.I honestly don\'t allow myself to think about the draft till I see what they\'ve done afterwards.
As for Bellamy at FS, I disagree. He is more of a run stuffing SS and I think he should stay there. The corners played well at the end of the year and Fakhir may be able to cut it as a starter. (If he doesn\'t, you give Smith a shot and move Mel to FS.)

As it is, if we get a solid LB via the draft or FA and Sully truly comes ready to play (I\'ll believe it when I see it)....this could be really good. Move Howard for a similar value at another position and the D could hit the field looking alot better. You can never have enough studs on D.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Bellamy played FS his whole career until he got here. I think he could still do it. Or let Davis play FS. Whatever gets Smith at corner for this year. I like Brown, but I am far from sold and Smith is an upgrade. Whatever the case may be, I am glad we got him.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Regardless of where Bellamy used to play, he doesn\'t have the speed anymore to play FS.

Speed isn\'t the only factor for a FS. But, it\'s a big one. Sammy Knight just got cut from the Dohphins because he doesn\'t have the speed anymore.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

I thought Sammy was a SS. Was he playing FS for them? Whatever the case may be, even Roy williams in Dallas has played FS, and noone is enamored with his speed. As a matter of fact, his hits are what he is most known for as he rarely makes an INT or pass break ups. I am not saying Bellamy is the long term answer there. But he shouldn\'t kill us for a year. We are thin at corner as is, and Smith would play there cheap. But like I said, Davis can play FS then. If Roy Williams can do it, he sure as hell can.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Overall, I think Bellamy is a big liability at FS. Could he do it? Maybe. But, I don\'t want to find out.

The whole point was to get a ball hawking saftey who is a differece maker in the seconday. Bellamy comes nowhere close to that description.

Also, our cornerbacks seem to be in much better shape than our safeties. Addition by subtraction just doesn\'t add up to me... ;)

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

Okay, I repeat:

And leave Bellamy at strong. With Ambrose and Craft gone, we are thin at CB. I am not as sold on Fakhir as some, as he did a fine job. If we are talking about upgrading, Smith is an upgrade to our corners. Allows us to draft Davis. Or Mitchell can play FS or SS. Whatever the scenario, I like Smith better at corner than safety, although I am sure he would be great at either.

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

When did Craft leave? I thought we had an offer on the table for him.
Has he signed somewhere else?

Saints sign Dwight Smith!
 

I thought Craft was UFA? If not, my bad. I am not excited about him at corner if he is or isn\'t under a contract. He was a 5th round pick and plays like one. I would prefer MM and Smith with Brown as a nickel. I wish we could unload Thomas, the bum. Then it\'s either Davis(if drafted) and Mitchell at safety or Davis and Bellamy. Either way, I would feel better about our corner situation, and we draft a Carlos rogers or Webster or Jackson in the 2nd at corner to take over the spot in a year, and move Smith to FS then. But that\'s just me. Noone has to agree. It was just a thought.