burningmetal

You implied it by saying "Butler is a system cornerback, and that system is known as the NFL".

Is that not suggesting that there are no real system players? I don't see any other way to interpret what you said.

saintsfan1976

No. You implied it, Sir. My statement should have led you to believe that Butler could work in any system, not that system players don't exist.

Of course system players exist. We have and have had a them on our team.

nola_swammi

Loom is have his hands all over this not Payton. If Payton had his hands on it and was seeking a trade the 1st statement that he said about Cooks will be a saint for 2017 would've never been made.

AsylumGuido

Of course he would say that. Saying anything else would devalue Cooks. Loomis doesn't deal with personnel moves beyond the money end. ALL personnel moves are controlled by Payton.

rezburna

I have no concern that the Saints will trade EITHER one of our first round picks for Malcolm Butler. If we were giving up a 1st we'd just sign the offer sheet. If Brandin Cooks could only command the 32nd pick in the 1st round, I'm pretty sure a 2nd rounder and a mid to late round pick or two from next years draft will suffice. My initial concern was whether or not Butler could play man coverage since that's something we want to do more of. I already knew he was good at the line of scrimmage with his press. I didn't want him in a straight up trade for Cooks because of how deep this draft is said to be on the defensive side of the ball, and I was worried about how much money we'd have to pay him once he got here. I'm not worried about any of that anymore. We seem to have plenty of money and are rumored to only be offering a 3 or 4 year deal. I'm sure it'll have similar escape clauses to the deal we gave Byrd as to not put us back in salary cap hell. I went and watched a few of the games he's played in as well. He's much better than any cornerback we have on this team, although Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams have a lot of potential if they can stay healthy. That's a BIG if. First thing I noticed is that Butler actually attacks the ball in the air and gets his head around quick. We need defensive backs who can track the ball and give it back to our offense. Butler can do that. He can play man or zone. He can press. I don't know what the concern is with him shadowing #1 WR's, but I saw him cover and make plays on plenty of #1's in the highlights that were posted in this forum. Nobody playing for the Saints can shadow Julio Jones.....but that goes for EVERYBODY else in the NFL. We need guys who can make the play when the opportunity presents itself. You aren't about to shut down Julio. You can only hope to contain players like that for a little while or make the QB hesitant about throwing over there, but at the end of the day all it takes is one play to break a guy like that loose. I think he'll be fine covering the likes of Kelvin Benjamin and Mike Evans. I'm ready for us to work out the deal and pull the trigger. We INSTANTLY become a better team with the addition of Malcolm Butler.

"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.” - Stokely Carmichael

ChrisXVI

Well said Rez!

Seer1

You're right on many levels Rez, but don't forget that we've brought in many studs in the past just to watch them face plant on the astro turf here. A big part of a player's -regardless of talent level- success is not so much up to what they're bringing with them. I'm going to refer back to my favorite JP quote at this point, "It's the coaching stupid!"

rezburna

That much is true. I can't argue with that. It seems like we've made a lot of strides this offseason in fixing the issues with our coaching staff though. At least I hope that's the case. As we know, Sean Payton really wants to be the Seahawks of the NFC South defensively. He wants Allen to implement a defense that heavily relies on Cover 3 and Cover 1 with a single high safety like they do with Earl Thomas (FS) while Kam Chancellor (SS) comes down and makes plays at the 2nd level of the defense. With that being said, I think that's why they're checking out Obi Melifonwu of UCONN to be the SS because I'm not sure if Kenny Vacarro is going to cut it. I wonder what we could get in return for him? That's also why I think they're pushing so hard for Butler. He can press and play the man coverage needed for Cover 1 as well as the deep third coverage required in the Cover 3. Breaux is pretty good at pressing at the line too, so maybe they can hold receivers at the line a little longer, throw off some timing, and allow our pass rush to get back there for a few sacks. I'm starting to see the vision kind of come together. A.J. Klein is great in coverage as a linebacker. Craig Robertson is too, although he's a little slower than I'd prefer him to be. Those are the kind of linebackers you want when you're running the Cover 3. You can modify it and send Ellerbe off the edge. Bring in Stephone Anthony and let him put some pressure on the QB as well. I don't know...I'm ready to see how it plays out.

"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.” - Stokely Carmichael

lee909

I dont even think they would be meeting him unless the outline of a deal and having some inside knowledge of what Butler wants in the contract was known. Teams are not going to waste their time bringing players in with no plan in place

AsylumGuido

Exactly. It makes perfect sense on every level.