Saints and filling needs.

GumboBC · 03-22-2005, 12:51 PM

Well, we've lived through most of the free-agent period. Most Saints' fans have a little different opinion on the results, however ...

Of course, I have my own thought process about the results we achieved in free-agency.

I'm going to break the Saints' free-agency down it 2 parts.

Positives and Negatives...

Let's go with the positives first:

Positives:

1. Signing FS Dwight Smith. We get a proven playmaker who has the experience and skills to cover some of the premeir tightends and Dwight can also make plays once the ball is in the air. Something that's been truly missing in the past with Tebucky Jones.

2. Signing Mayberry -- He's not the best RT that was avalible in free agency. But, he's definately an upgrade over Victor Riley. And I believe it's something to be said for that. I aslo think Mayberry's attitude will be a welcomed addition to the offensive line.

3. Getting rid of Tebucky Jones and Victor Riley -- Sends a message to the other players. One that's been long past due, IMHO.

4. Resigning some of our free-agents.

Negatives:

1. Not signing a proven LB. It's my belief that a MIDDLE linebacker is needed. That's where I think we could get the biggest bang for our buck as far as linebackers go.

2. Not signing a proven defensive tackle. Right now all we've got is Howard Green and Jonathan Sullivan. Kinda of risky if you ask me.

All in all, I don't think we had a lot of glaring holes that needed to be filled.

My wish list was: MLB, RT, LT, DT and safety.

I can live with Wayne Gandy. He did play hurt last season and I believe we can get another year out of him.

So, that leaves MLB and DT.

Right now I give the Saints a 'C' in free agency.

If we get Dat Nygen with the Howard trade, that grade will go up to a 'B'.

Then we need to take care of business in the draft.

shadowdrinker · 03-22-2005, 01:11 PM

I agree witht he positives...we did a pretty darn good job, and I really think we are going to benefit , and be a better team..

The D tackle position is the real question...Sully, is damn expesive..and I can agree with the team giving him one final chance...I really don\'t think He will be the guy they need, but, That\'s one GIANT sh*t sandwich, and we have to take a bite...And it\'s going to suck...

Overall..I\'m excited again...I think Smith is going to explode for us...He has shown he can hang with TB, and make a name for himself in a big name Defense...

Mayberry may be great for us...I hope so, We desperately need some real muscle on the Front line...and with Deuce healthy again..things are really looking up..

We will have a great draft..and we will all be excited again real soon..and I think we need it..last year was TOUGH for us...

WhoDat · 03-22-2005, 01:39 PM

Wait a second. The Saints have their FOURTH straight AVERAGE season, after which they DIDN\'T FIRE the coach, DC of the LAST ranked defense in the league, but did lose the OC on the side of the ball that has actually been productive, did little to find a suitable replacement, and then in FA they DIDN\'T fill gapping holes at the SAME POSITIONS that have been PROBLEMS FOR FOUR YEARS (LB/DT), and you grade their offseason as AVERAGE. Tell me again, why am I supposed to be positive? Average year, no good changes in the coaching staff, average change in players = optimism?

GumboBC · 03-22-2005, 01:52 PM

WhoDat --

You know ... maybe you are right. Maybe we\'ll be 8-8 again. Ceratainly we didn\'t fill every need in free-agency this year.

But, IMO, we\'re miles ahead of where we were at at this point last year, WhoDat.

Last year AT THIS POINT our starting secondary consisted of:

1. Ashley Abrose
2. Fred Thomas
3. Tebucky Jones

This year our starting secondary consists of:

1. Mike McKenzie.
2. Fakir Brown
3. Dwight Smith.

Hell, that\'s an ALL-STAR backfield compared to what we had. Let\'s give the Saints some credit here ... Don\'t you think?

Now, I don\'t know about you, WhoDat, but, Mike McKenzie and Dwight Smith can start on my team any day of the week. And Fakir ain\'t too shabby either.

At defensive end we\'ve got Will Smith and Charles Grant. WOW! What a pair of studs?!

What does that leave, WhoDat. I\'ll be happy if we get ONE linebacker who is a play-maker.

What did you realistically expect?

Three linebackers, an offensive tackle, defensive tackle, and a free-safety?

Yeah, sure there are a couple of holes that need to be filled. But isn\'t the Darren Howard trade still on the table. And don\'t we still have the draft to go?

How, \'bout we let this thing run it\'s course before we write the team off?

[Edited on 22/3/2005 by GumboBC]

[Edited on 22/3/2005 by GumboBC]

bignic26 · 03-22-2005, 02:39 PM

Very well put Gumbo. You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you.

I to would give the Saints offseason thus far around a C. Whenever the Saints sign any player who is even decent, Saints fans try to hype him up to the level of greatness. In this case, we may be right. We\'ve all seen this guy play alot and we KNOW what he can do. No amount of hype is needed for Dwight, he\'s the real deal.

While D. Smith will have a major impact on not only the secondary, but the entire defense as well, I don\'t know if the signing of Mayberry will have the same kind of impact.

Nobody who knows anything about football would argue that Jermane Mayberry isn\'t an excellent player. Over the course of his career he has been rock solid and very versatile for the Eagles. He\'s a pro bolwer for heaven\'s sake and signing a pro bowl player never hurts. But (and this is a big but) can the guy hold up for an entire season at RT? Although Jermane has displayed the ability to play well at every spot on the line (except center), by all accounts his best posistion is RG. Hopefully we can plug him in at RT and he\'ll play there at a high level. At the same time though it would be foolish to assume that age, new line mates, and a new posistion won\'t affect his play at all.

When you think about it, we don\'t need Mayberry to play at a pro bowl level to have success. We\'ll be just fine if he can be solid in both run blocking and pass protection. The most important thing about Mayberry that alot of people don\'t realize is the fact that he is the Anti-Victor Riley. Remember all those things about Riley that drove us crazy like the holding, the falsestarts, the bonehead mistakes, etc, etc? :bandhead: Well Mayberry doesn\'t do that stupid stuff every other play! Of course he\'ll have a few flags thrown on him but nothing like that dumbazz Riley!!!

Danno · 03-22-2005, 02:53 PM

Very well put Gumbo. You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you.

I to would give the Saints offseason thus far around a C. Whenever the Saints sign any player who is even decent, Saints fans try to hype him up to the level of greatness. In this case, we may be right. We\'ve all seen this guy play alot and we KNOW what he can do. No amount of hype is needed for Dwight, he\'s the real deal.

While D. Smith will have a major impact on not only the secondary, but the entire defense as well, I don\'t know if the signing of Mayberry will have the same kind of impact.

Nobody who knows anything about football would argue that Jermane Mayberry isn\'t an excellent player. Over the course of his career he has been rock solid and very versatile for the Eagles. He\'s a pro bolwer for heaven\'s sake and signing a pro bowl player never hurts. But (and this is a big but) can the guy hold up for an entire season at RT? Although Jermane has displayed the ability to play well at every spot on the line (except center), by all accounts his best posistion is RG. Hopefully we can plug him in at RT and he\'ll play there at a high level. At the same time though it would be foolish to assume that age, new line mates, and a new posistion won\'t affect his play at all.

When you think about it, we don\'t need Mayberry to play at a pro bowl level to have success. We\'ll be just fine if he can be solid in both run blocking and pass protection. The most important thing about Mayberry that alot of people don\'t realize is the fact that he is the Anti-Victor Riley. Remember all those things about Riley that drove us crazy like the holding, the falsestarts, the bonehead mistakes, etc, etc? :bandhead: Well Mayberry doesn\'t do that stupid stuff every other play! Of course he\'ll have a few flags thrown on him but nothing like that dumbazz Riley!!!

I remember Hoakie (maybe Mike D) said Mayberry is basically similar to Victor Riley, when he brings his A-game (a la 2003), and without all the mental mistakes, inconsistencies, and motivational/fitness swings.

Danno · 03-22-2005, 03:20 PM

DT...
Bryan Young-our best DT, but needs a fat boy beside him to really shine.
Howard Green-If he improves as much as he did last year, he could be solid. And I hate LSU.
Jonathan Sullivan-He won\'t be on the opening day roster.
Tony Bryant-Younger bigger version of Willie Whitehead, with more upside.
Willie Whitehead-I sure wish he was 27 again
Rodney Leisle-Jury out, may develop into a good run stuffer. hard worker, kinda the opposite of Sullivan.
Kenny Smith-Versatile, looked to be improving when knee blew. May not come back though.

While that line-up doesn\'t scare many, it does have potential to be decent. I\'m most enthusiastic about the progress of Green, Bryant, and Leisle. All three are young, hard working, determined and show promise. I still think we could use a proven fat-boy, but I\'m less worried about the 2-gap DT spot than I am the OLB positions.

BlackandBlue · 03-22-2005, 03:27 PM

You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you.

Posts: 47
Registered: 16/3/2005

4saintspirit · 03-22-2005, 03:29 PM

I personally am more optimistic -- of course that can be said every off season -- But I can point to several reasons to be optimistic --- (and of course they can turn out to be pathetic reasons). Here goes

1. The Saints did make their team better via free agency. Smith and Mayberry have improved those positions
2. They did go after linebackers -- just didn\'t land one -- right there it says that they no longer have their heads in the sand like most years.
3. Have and are addressing the contract situation with several key Saints players
4. Did show marked improvement over the last half of the season last year
5. Did get rid of Mcarthy hopefully improving the offense

So -- yeah -- I think there are reasons to be optimistic -==-
5.

baronm · 03-22-2005, 03:31 PM

still no linebackers and aparrently no plans to get a quality linebacker.

03-22-2005, 12:51 PM	#1
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616	Saints and filling needs. Well, we've lived through most of the free-agent period. Most Saints' fans have a little different opinion on the results, however ... Of course, I have my own thought process about the results we achieved in free-agency. I'm going to break the Saints' free-agency down it 2 parts. Positives and Negatives... Let's go with the positives first: Positives: 1. Signing FS Dwight Smith. We get a proven playmaker who has the experience and skills to cover some of the premeir tightends and Dwight can also make plays once the ball is in the air. Something that's been truly missing in the past with Tebucky Jones. 2. Signing Mayberry -- He's not the best RT that was avalible in free agency. But, he's definately an upgrade over Victor Riley. And I believe it's something to be said for that. I aslo think Mayberry's attitude will be a welcomed addition to the offensive line. 3. Getting rid of Tebucky Jones and Victor Riley -- Sends a message to the other players. One that's been long past due, IMHO. 4. Resigning some of our free-agents. Negatives: 1. Not signing a proven LB. It's my belief that a MIDDLE linebacker is needed. That's where I think we could get the biggest bang for our buck as far as linebackers go. 2. Not signing a proven defensive tackle. Right now all we've got is Howard Green and Jonathan Sullivan. Kinda of risky if you ask me. All in all, I don't think we had a lot of glaring holes that needed to be filled. My wish list was: MLB, RT, LT, DT and safety. I can live with Wayne Gandy. He did play hurt last season and I believe we can get another year out of him. So, that leaves MLB and DT. Right now I give the Saints a 'C' in free agency. If we get Dat Nygen with the Howard trade, that grade will go up to a 'B'. Then we need to take care of business in the draft.
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616

03-22-2005, 01:11 PM	#2
shadowdrinker Banned Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 517	Saints and filling needs. I agree witht he positives...we did a pretty darn good job, and I really think we are going to benefit , and be a better team.. The D tackle position is the real question...Sully, is damn expesive..and I can agree with the team giving him one final chance...I really don\'t think He will be the guy they need, but, That\'s one GIANT sh*t sandwich, and we have to take a bite...And it\'s going to suck... Overall..I\'m excited again...I think Smith is going to explode for us...He has shown he can hang with TB, and make a name for himself in a big name Defense... Mayberry may be great for us...I hope so, We desperately need some real muscle on the Front line...and with Deuce healthy again..things are really looking up.. We will have a great draft..and we will all be excited again real soon..and I think we need it..last year was TOUGH for us...
shadowdrinker Banned Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 517

03-22-2005, 01:39 PM	#3
WhoDat 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,631	Saints and filling needs. Wait a second. The Saints have their FOURTH straight AVERAGE season, after which they DIDN\'T FIRE the coach, DC of the LAST ranked defense in the league, but did lose the OC on the side of the ball that has actually been productive, did little to find a suitable replacement, and then in FA they DIDN\'T fill gapping holes at the SAME POSITIONS that have been PROBLEMS FOR FOUR YEARS (LB/DT), and you grade their offseason as AVERAGE. Tell me again, why am I supposed to be positive? Average year, no good changes in the coaching staff, average change in players = optimism?
WhoDat 5000 POSTS! + Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,631	\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. ThatÃ¢Â€Â™s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans SaintsÃ¢Â€Â™ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse \"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"

03-22-2005, 01:52 PM	#4
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616	Saints and filling needs. WhoDat -- You know ... maybe you are right. Maybe we\'ll be 8-8 again. Ceratainly we didn\'t fill every need in free-agency this year. But, IMO, we\'re miles ahead of where we were at at this point last year, WhoDat. Last year AT THIS POINT our starting secondary consisted of: 1. Ashley Abrose 2. Fred Thomas 3. Tebucky Jones This year our starting secondary consists of: 1. Mike McKenzie. 2. Fakir Brown 3. Dwight Smith. Hell, that\'s an ALL-STAR backfield compared to what we had. Let\'s give the Saints some credit here ... Don\'t you think? Now, I don\'t know about you, WhoDat, but, Mike McKenzie and Dwight Smith can start on my team any day of the week. And Fakir ain\'t too shabby either. At defensive end we\'ve got Will Smith and Charles Grant. WOW! What a pair of studs?! What does that leave, WhoDat. I\'ll be happy if we get ONE linebacker who is a play-maker. What did you realistically expect? Three linebackers, an offensive tackle, defensive tackle, and a free-safety? Yeah, sure there are a couple of holes that need to be filled. But isn\'t the Darren Howard trade still on the table. And don\'t we still have the draft to go? How, \'bout we let this thing run it\'s course before we write the team off? [Edited on 22/3/2005 by GumboBC] [Edited on 22/3/2005 by GumboBC]
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616

03-22-2005, 02:39 PM	#5
bignic26 100th Post Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 122	Saints and filling needs. Very well put Gumbo. You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you. I to would give the Saints offseason thus far around a C. Whenever the Saints sign any player who is even decent, Saints fans try to hype him up to the level of greatness. In this case, we may be right. We\'ve all seen this guy play alot and we KNOW what he can do. No amount of hype is needed for Dwight, he\'s the real deal. While D. Smith will have a major impact on not only the secondary, but the entire defense as well, I don\'t know if the signing of Mayberry will have the same kind of impact. Nobody who knows anything about football would argue that Jermane Mayberry isn\'t an excellent player. Over the course of his career he has been rock solid and very versatile for the Eagles. He\'s a pro bolwer for heaven\'s sake and signing a pro bowl player never hurts. But (and this is a big but) can the guy hold up for an entire season at RT? Although Jermane has displayed the ability to play well at every spot on the line (except center), by all accounts his best posistion is RG. Hopefully we can plug him in at RT and he\'ll play there at a high level. At the same time though it would be foolish to assume that age, new line mates, and a new posistion won\'t affect his play at all. When you think about it, we don\'t need Mayberry to play at a pro bowl level to have success. We\'ll be just fine if he can be solid in both run blocking and pass protection. The most important thing about Mayberry that alot of people don\'t realize is the fact that he is the Anti-Victor Riley. Remember all those things about Riley that drove us crazy like the holding, the falsestarts, the bonehead mistakes, etc, etc? :bandhead: Well Mayberry doesn\'t do that stupid stuff every other play! Of course he\'ll have a few flags thrown on him but nothing like that dumbazz Riley!!!
bignic26 100th Post Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 122	We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams

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03-22-2005, 02:53 PM	#6
Danno Truth Addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Spanish Fort, AL (via NO and B/R) Posts: 24,648	Saints and filling needs. Very well put Gumbo. You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you. I to would give the Saints offseason thus far around a C. Whenever the Saints sign any player who is even decent, Saints fans try to hype him up to the level of greatness. In this case, we may be right. We\'ve all seen this guy play alot and we KNOW what he can do. No amount of hype is needed for Dwight, he\'s the real deal. While D. Smith will have a major impact on not only the secondary, but the entire defense as well, I don\'t know if the signing of Mayberry will have the same kind of impact. Nobody who knows anything about football would argue that Jermane Mayberry isn\'t an excellent player. Over the course of his career he has been rock solid and very versatile for the Eagles. He\'s a pro bolwer for heaven\'s sake and signing a pro bowl player never hurts. But (and this is a big but) can the guy hold up for an entire season at RT? Although Jermane has displayed the ability to play well at every spot on the line (except center), by all accounts his best posistion is RG. Hopefully we can plug him in at RT and he\'ll play there at a high level. At the same time though it would be foolish to assume that age, new line mates, and a new posistion won\'t affect his play at all. When you think about it, we don\'t need Mayberry to play at a pro bowl level to have success. We\'ll be just fine if he can be solid in both run blocking and pass protection. The most important thing about Mayberry that alot of people don\'t realize is the fact that he is the Anti-Victor Riley. Remember all those things about Riley that drove us crazy like the holding, the falsestarts, the bonehead mistakes, etc, etc? :bandhead: Well Mayberry doesn\'t do that stupid stuff every other play! Of course he\'ll have a few flags thrown on him but nothing like that dumbazz Riley!!! I remember Hoakie (maybe Mike D) said Mayberry is basically similar to Victor Riley, when he brings his A-game (a la 2003), and without all the mental mistakes, inconsistencies, and motivational/fitness swings.

03-22-2005, 03:20 PM	#7
Danno Truth Addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Spanish Fort, AL (via NO and B/R) Posts: 24,648	Saints and filling needs. DT... Bryan Young-our best DT, but needs a fat boy beside him to really shine. Howard Green-If he improves as much as he did last year, he could be solid. And I hate LSU. Jonathan Sullivan-He won\'t be on the opening day roster. Tony Bryant-Younger bigger version of Willie Whitehead, with more upside. Willie Whitehead-I sure wish he was 27 again Rodney Leisle-Jury out, may develop into a good run stuffer. hard worker, kinda the opposite of Sullivan. Kenny Smith-Versatile, looked to be improving when knee blew. May not come back though. While that line-up doesn\'t scare many, it does have potential to be decent. I\'m most enthusiastic about the progress of Green, Bryant, and Leisle. All three are young, hard working, determined and show promise. I still think we could use a proven fat-boy, but I\'m less worried about the 2-gap DT spot than I am the OLB positions.

03-22-2005, 03:27 PM	#8
BlackandBlue Kinder, gentler Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: dirty south Posts: 3,889	Saints and filling needs. You\'re not such a bad guy afterall, no matter what these goons say about you. Posts: 47 Registered: 16/3/2005

03-22-2005, 03:29 PM	#9
4saintspirit 500th Post Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 690	Saints and filling needs. I personally am more optimistic -- of course that can be said every off season -- But I can point to several reasons to be optimistic --- (and of course they can turn out to be pathetic reasons). Here goes 1. The Saints did make their team better via free agency. Smith and Mayberry have improved those positions 2. They did go after linebackers -- just didn\'t land one -- right there it says that they no longer have their heads in the sand like most years. 3. Have and are addressing the contract situation with several key Saints players 4. Did show marked improvement over the last half of the season last year 5. Did get rid of Mcarthy hopefully improving the offense So -- yeah -- I think there are reasons to be optimistic -==- 5.
4saintspirit 500th Post Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 690	\"I have a photographic memory -- I just don\'t have any film.\"

03-22-2005, 03:31 PM	#10
baronm 500th Post Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 954	Saints and filling needs. still no linebackers and aparrently no plans to get a quality linebacker.
baronm 500th Post Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 954