cajuncannon3

From ESPN.com....................

There figures to be some player trades during the draft -- tailbacks Shaun Alexander (Seattle) and Travis Henry (Buffalo), along with wideout Rod Gardner (Washington), are all good bets to have new homes by Sunday evening -- but don't look for New Orleans defensive end Darren Howard to be searching the Yellow Pages for a moving company.

The Saints, of course, have been shopping the talented Howard, and his $7.8 million salary-cap number for 2005, around the league for months. But ever since the Saints and Cowboys failed to consummate a swap last month, things have cooled considerably, and the phones of New Orleans officials haven't been ringing. Loaded with a league-high 13 choices, Philadelphia might have been a suitor for Howard, but only if the Eagles had succeeded a few weeks ago in dealing defensive tackle Corey Simon to Baltimore.

There are some unsubstantiated rumblings that, as the first round progresses and based on what transpires, the Cowboys might make a draft-day offer. But in this regard, the situation with Howard remains unchanged: General manager Mickey Loomis and coach Jim Haslett know that the five-year veteran, who matched his career-high with 11 sacks in '04 despite playing much of the time at tackle, is a good player. And, since the Saints can afford to carry Howard's ponderous cap number for one more year (not carry it very comfortably, but carry it nonetheless), they aren't just going to give him away.

Looks like he might be sticking around. You never know. I wouldn't mind keeping him for one more year, bc we all know we need fresh d-ends, bc our d-tackles will suck once again!

WhoDat

I wouldn\'t mind keeping him around either. But according to Whodi, keeping Howard means losing all of our draft picks b/c we couldn\'t sign a single one of them. And Deuce, Bentley, and McKenzie would all leave... and Haslett and Brooks would get lifetime extensions, and the Saints would move to Los Angeles... so we better trade Howard, b/c he\'s not worth all those things happening.

saintswhodi

Wow, and you talk about me polarizing? Nice Gumbo post. And have you noticed there are others on the we have to trade Howard train? No. I guess the one who shoots the nonsense down the most gets the blame. I\'ll take it.

WhoDat

The New Orleans Saints say that they DO NOT HAVE to trade Howard. That they can go forward this year with him on the team and sign all of their draft choices and deal with him next offseason. I\'m just wondering what you know that the Saints GM doesn\'t know about Howard\'s contract and its affect on the cap. Please, clue me in, I\'d love to hear it.

saintswhodi

Wow. So imagine a team not coming out in the paper and saying \"Hey, we need to trade this player cause we have no money. Can someone please offer us something for him, anything?\" I wonder if all the other 31 teams would come flocking at the offer then? Ya think WhoDat? If they announced how much they need to get rid of him instead of making it seem like they would be happy with keeping him? You don\'t think teams play games before the draft and put out BS reports do you? gosh no. You can trust everything you hear before the draft.

saintswhodi

Hey Who, I guess you also believe Ricky is going back to Miami huh? :rollinglaugh: