Fairley's complication to his known problem were unforseen. In the past all of NFL, Lions, Rams, and Saints medical had him cleared to play. The current complication is new.

As for the one year contract, that's what the guy had last year. A one year prove it. And he proved valuable. And not only for the Saints, but to the rest of the league.

Of course the Saints could have said "one year: take it or leave it." for 2017. Fairly and his representation would have laughed and immediately shopped his wares to the rest of the league. The Saints had no real leverage to make another one year deal with Fairley.

Of course the replacement costs have to be considered. You offer Fairley a one year take it or leave it. He leaves due to very understandable lack of security and frankly a plain disrespect for his talent and contribution from the previous year. Now what? Who comes in on a one year contract anywhere near the same level of production? Is that guy still available? We can sign him now, yes?

And so here we are. It's not always just a bad decision. Sometimes it's just bad luck. But understand that the Saints are not a monopoly and just underpay and undervalue football players because they are the Saints. There are 31 other teams with just as much (or more) money than the Saints. Those teams can recognize and appropriately value talent too. So proposing lowball "take it or leave it" offers isn't the solution to the problem.

SFIAH