Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

After working out a group of veteran free agent running backs, the New Orleans Saints agreed to sign Terrance West on Wednesday, West confirmed on his Instagram account.

Former Saints running back Tim Hightower and former Chiefs and Broncos back Jamaal Charles also worked out for New Orleans, which invited former Titan DeMarco Murray as well. According to an ESPN report, Murray declined to work out with a large group of backs and is "still waiting for the right opportunity."

Per NFL.com, Charles had "a very good workout and visit" and his potential signing in New Orleans could be revisited at some point.

West, 27, was active for just five games with the Baltimore Ravens last season as Alex Collins took over the starting job midseason. West finished with 39 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns, a year after totaling 774 rushing yards and five scores for the Ravens.

A third-round pick of the Browns in 2014, West spent two games with the Titans in 2015 before being waived and picked up by the Ravens. He has 1,819 rushing yards (3.9 yards per carry) and 11 rushing touchdowns in his career.

West will help fill the void of Mark Ingram while the two-time Pro Bowler serves a four-game suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy. Ingram is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons including career highs of 1,124 rushing yards and 12 scores in 2017 despite sharing the backfield with rookie sensation Alvin Kamara.

Charles, 31, has played in just 22 games over the last three seasons. After four Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro nods in nine seasons in Kansas City, Charles signed with the Broncos last year, finishing the campaign with 296 yards on 69 carries with one touchdown and a long of 19 yards.

Murray, 30, was released by the Titans in March after finishing with 659 rushing yards (3.6 yards per carry) and six scores last season. He made the Pro Bowl in 2016 with 1,287 yards and nine TDs, the third Pro Bowl nod of his seven-year career.

https://sports.yahoo.com/saints-sign...1754--spt.html

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Low mileage, and maybe a bit of upside if he clicks.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Not quite yet...

https://twitter.com/miketriplett/sta...133407232?s=21

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Mike Triplett
ESPN Staff Writer
Although a deal could materialize between the Saints and RB Terrance West, nothing has been finalized yet, per sources. Shane Vereen was also a part of the Saints' veteran RB audition Wednesday that included West and Jamaal Charles.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Looks final now. This could turn out to be a good fit. He's 5'10", 225 lbs. From what I've seen, has good vision and hard to bring down. Good in a rotation, and probably didn't cost much.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Don't forget that if a veteran is on the game one roster he is guaranteed 16 weeks of salary that counts against the cap whether he remains on the roster or not. Any veteran signed after game one only receives a salary for games on the roster.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

So if he looks good throughout preseason, he'll likely be cut and resigned week 2. This is a cut throat industry, but sure pays well if you make it.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Saints aren't like a team that would do that. If they don't cut anywone they don't want another team who has seen the player come snag him. There was a Reason Hill was on the roster as our 3rd QB because they didn't want to take a chance on a team grabbing him and I don' recall Sean every keeping a 3rd QB once the season begins.

Whats more likely to happen is we release West if its not working out and signed Charles once the week 1 is over.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

For me, I think coaches trust West to pass protect, pick up blitzes more than anything. This is an aspect of MI's game that many take for granted.

Gotta keep #9 upright.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Actually it would be pretty safe to drop West prior to week one and re-sign him. First of all, any other team that tries to pick him up would be in the same boat ... owing him a full 16 game's salary. I've heard that in this sort of case the team and the player agree to the move. The player basically promises to wait until after week one and the team promises to sign him back after week one.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

I was reading that he probably signed for the veteran minimum. He may be insurance for Ingram's suspension but maybe his future as well.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Still believe this looks bad for MI. They went from “no plans to bring in any vet rb’s “ to bringing in 4 in a week.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

How does it look bad for MI by bringing in a trash RB like this?

They clearly don't want to bring in AP because if he comes in, and does well, it would not reflect well on Ingram.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Everyone passed on Charles. West will just be an adequate replacement for Ingram the 1st 4 games and I would not be surprise to see Ingram traded for some draft picks before the trade deadline.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Highly, highly improbable.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Why is improbable? I'll tell you why it's not. One, he won't be here next year and will be a non factor early on. Second, if the run game is working great without him, why not trade him and start building picks to bundle to get back in the 1st. If a team is willing to over value him for say a second and something else have to entertain it.

I'm not saying we should and hope we don't but to say it's not on the table, bringing in all these RB's....looks somewhat probable.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

See previous post by Guido.

For whatever reason, a lot of posters have undervalued MI and his production over the years. Possibly because we traded back in the first to get him? Many here have already joined the lynch mob with Davenport & we haven't even hit training camp yet.

Ingram is a HUGE part of the reason why we won 11 games last season & what we are trying to accomplish this year. If you want to compete with the heavy weights in January (Philly, MN, GB, Rams) 2019, the Saints need MI. Anyone who thinks we can win with AK & a bunch of unknown, unproven backs ... your being short sighted.

Win now mode. Repeat, win now. Next season, totally different conversation as it relates to Mark.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

What team would want to trade a 2nd round pick for a RB in the final year of his contract who isnt available for the first 4 games? They'd only be guaranteed this season before he was a FA again. Theres no guarantee he'd re-sign with them.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

I don't know, maybe a team that loses their top RB's and were undefeated up until that point? I would totally try to get the best RB available if that was the case. Really hard to say what the worth of a RB will be in week 4 or 5 with injuries. If somebody was willing to take AP why would they not want MI.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Murray, Charles and West are far from trash. MI gets suspended in a contract year and has been MIA since. No way we resign him. Too many big names coming up for us to re-sign. He will play out this year unless we trade him. Either way he is on his way out.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

sign and trade. Happens often.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

I never said anything about Charles and Murray, but I have seen West with three teams and he could not hold on to his job. I was not impressed with his limited body of work. I have my share of opinions about Ingram but he isn't a West.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

I would be beyond shocked.

Re: Saints sign RB West, pass on Charles for now
 

Ingram has not been MIA. He trained with someone to hone his route running skills during voluntary OTA's, something quite common among veterans across the league. Most OTA's are little more than rookie orientation sessions. Ingram was not only present for the mini camp, but was also there for Pierre Thomas' and Lance Moore's induction into the Saints HOF. He made several other appearances along with other Saints throughout the off-season.