all i see is the saints are doomed to repeat the same old mistakes of the past once again.

I have one thing I hang my hat on and that is my faith in DA not to allow the saints to go down that road. Unlike so many of the DC before him, DA knows how to coach on the field with the players he has.

I do not expect a draft as heavy on defense as saints fans and the media scouts are thinking. RB TE and WR are pretty good this year. Finding a RT for the future will be hard.

If ROT is not addressed early we might as well skip them all together. This is one of the worse draft classes I have ever seen in a long time for OT. Load up on OT in UDFA like we did OG last year and praying to the gods we strike gold is crazy. We will go into next years off season with RT as the #1 need for this team. We need that player NOW. We did not address this glaring issue in FA this year. The Peat screw up or defensive needs should not keep us from addressing the issue. Zach goes down we are screwed. Zach retires next year we are screwed. We are kinda back into a corner now. Draft that player early now and have more to invest on defense in the 2018 FA.

We still have no replacement for Hightower.

Do not forget SP no longer has a toy for his offense. SP loves and needs a toy to make his offense work. SP offense needs that toy. SP is a TOY JUNKY and we all know he will spend a fortune on getting his fix.

Upgrade at 3rd down RB is needed. Below average play and/or sitting on IR year after year is not working. We have too many roster spots occupied with return specialist that have not gotten the job done. I see up to 3 roster spots that can be freed up with one addition. Spots that can be used to add players in other areas of needs. IE defense

TE and WR can be had through out the draft and I full expect the saints to dip into pool on draft day.

SP wants to get Drew to sign an extension he better make Drew happy and fill him with hope. Later round and/or playing it cute will not cut it.

I see a two to three year plan to get this defense to be able to hang in the top 20 despite injuries. It makes no sense to pass on offense players or make them a top priority in FA limiting the defensive additions in 2018. Welcome to year two of the rebuild. I do not see this defense in such dire need as most. I want to see what DA does with the players coming off IR, FA additions and the ones in the draft before I light my hair on fire and start running in circle screaming the sky is falling. I did not do that last year and I refuse to do it before this year starts

Not that I disagree with you much, but for the life in me I don't get the love for Allen.
Gregg Williams and Sharper made this guy, without them he's nothing.
As a DC in Denver he did little there and as a HC failed miserably.
Not one stop has he proven to be"the man", he's been living off of Williams accomplishments and I really seen no team out there wanting him especially as their DC. I like this guy about as much as you liked Ryan but he's going to be just as bad. I don't believe he can get us to a 24th ranked D with Payton loading the smoking gun for him the way Payton has been doing this season and last season. I ask myself what a proven DC could do with the personel we have on the D and I come to the conclusion that it's going to be much better than what Allen will do. If Payton truely wanted to "win now" he should have gotten him a truely proven guy and let him take care of his D with staff included, but he chose to keep his puppet boy Allen, well he's here. I'm as tired as you about the D dropping the ball and now we're taking pieces on the O to fix this god awful D. I do agree we'll be lucky to see a wildcard and totally agree about it taking time to build one in which Allen has had the reins on for 2 1/2 years now and hasn't got it done.

You might be right. As a Saints fan, let's hope things work out.