stockman311

Does anyone see the downside of dropping a 34 year old over the hill LT (Gandy) that is making over $5MM this year to sign a 31 year old in his prime LT (Verba) for about $5MM (the amount he is seeking)?

Euphoria

yeah... cap hit. How much is Verba wanting? Hell I don't see him listed as a FA, what his status?

papz

Verba is looking for something between 33-37 million 5 year contract. That's okay I'll definately pass. We are trying to get Gandy to take a pay cut because we are about 1.5 million under the cap and we can't sign all our rookies. No point in signing a high profile expensive tackle to replace a former high profile, aging expensive tackle... not to mention Deuce's and Bentley's contract extensions. It's time for Stinchy to live up to his 2nd round billing.

Euphoria

I am hearing the Saints have not asked him to take a pay cut now...but who knows.

TheDeuce

Verba is way too expensive. Besides, I think our OL is pretty solid, we don't need to be going out and spending that kind of money on an offensive lineman when we have other glaring needs (DT, LB).

FireVenturi

Good take i agree papz. if we only coulda unloaded Howard.

ScottyRo

If Stinch is ever going to make it as a starting LT, he must be ready now. I can't see how another year of the bench could make any difference. As much as I like Gandy for his leadership, he just hasn't been impressive as out LT and is well overpaid at $5M+.

WhoDat

I agree Scotty. We need Stinch to step up big time in camp and preseason, and take the starting LT position. Given all of the utility o-linemen that we have who could play at T if anything were to happen to Stinch, we wouldn't even need to keep Gandy around. We could cut him and free up that $5 million. If it's done late in the summer, his only option may be to resign with the Saints at a much lower level, which would provide us with good depth at the position, and allow us to work on Bentley's or McKenzie's or Deuce's contract throughout the year with the cap space made available.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ 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.\"

JKool

I am crossing my fingers that we will make cap room by signing Howard to a long term deal or by trading him after the July 15th contract date.

Gandy gets considerably cheaper after this year, as I recall. I personally think he should restructure, but if we keep him around (and his skills don't take a huge nose dive), he will be a decent bargain next year.

WhoDat

Imagine if we can execute the Howard/Simon trade AND Stinch plays well enough for us to cut Gandy! Add $5 million in cap room and a Pro Bowl DT. That gets our rookies signed and Deuce, Bentley, or McKenzie at least in a new long-term deal. I like it. Get it done Kool!