2008 NFL Draft: Saints Select Sedrick Ellis and Tracy Porter
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Sedrick Ellis |
Tracy Porter |
Following a trade with the New England Patriots to get to the seventh spot, the New Orleans Saints selected DT out of USC Sedrick Ellis in the first round of this years draft. In the second round the Saints selected CB Tracy Porter from Indiana.
I don't know about you guys but I am pretty happy about day one of the draft. I love the Sedrick Ellis trade. That is exactly what I thought should happen. Honestly, Tracy Porter was off my radar, as I think he was off a lot of peoples radar. But I am liking what I have been reading about him. And at least at this point, and I hope I don't regret saying this, I actually trust the Saints. Now that we have taken care of some business on the defensive side, we have a little freedom in the later rounds to take an offensive player if he was BPA.
How do you guys feel about it? Are you as happy as I am that the Saints seem to have their head on straight, and haven't done anything out of left field?
In the upcoming days I will do a post on each new member of the Saints. Today, I will just drop the obligatory links. I know most of you have probably already done all your research on these guys, and have read all the articles and info about the draft that have come out today, but I feel obliged to do this, just in case.

The New Orleans Saints Official Website has a bunch on todays action:
Sedrick Ellis Bio
Tracey Porter Bio
Media Interview with Sedrick Ellis
Sean Payton Discusses Day One
Mickey Loomis Discusses Day One

Here are your obligatory local news coverage links of the draft:
Times-Picayune on Sedrick Ellis
Times-Picayune on Tracy Porter
Sun Herald on Sedrick Ellis
Sun Herald on Tracy Porter
The Advocate on Ellis and Porter

Note: Awesome use of the Open Thread guys! I was very happy to come home from the fest to see you guys participating. The more people the merrier. I will do an Open Thread tomorrow as well, and I will be around to participate.
Jazzfest was miserable today but Billy Joel rocked in the rain.
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killer draft
i know all you down south boys are in love with dorsey and he's a hellava player but i grew up pac-10 and ellis is a beast! he was a stud his junior year but battled little injuries and USC wasn't the normal dominant team this last year. Porter will be a good cover corner, his rating was down cause he's not much of a tackler but j.david can't catch anybody to tackle them either so its an upgrade
by knucklesmalone on Apr 26, 2008 11:14 PM CDT reply actions
Praise for FO
It is so nice to have a front office that recognizes the teams weaknesses and moves aggressively to address them. Under the Haslett regime, the organization seemed to live in denial of glaring weaknesses and the team would have the same problems year after year. But under Payton and Loomis, each off-season they have identified our weakness and moved decisively to fix them. The moves haven't always payed off (see last year) but they have shown a willingness to cut their losses and move on.
The way the FO read the draft board today and was aggressive to grab the best players was amazing. They saw that they would have to move up or be left reaching for a CB, so they made it happen. They also had predicted the scenario and had laid the droundwork for a deal with the Pats before hand. Ellis should be an immediate upgrade for our D.
I kind of wish we would have gotten Shockey, but I like that they didn't let the Giants rob us blind. When they couldn't get a reasonable deal done, they moved on.
WTF is up with FO love?
The Saints FO had one good year and one terrible one under the current regime. I mean, they have kept Fred Thomas for how long? In fact, you can pretty much cite the d-backs as a TOTAL bust, and they are all from the FO. And doing your job by looking at different trade scenarios is just...doing your job. It's not impressive that the Saints FO have been sitting on their sofas since December and, whoa, they actually considered draft-trade scenarios?! This is merely fulfilling minimal expectations.
Ellis is no where near as good as Dorsey, period. It doesn't matter how much you love the Pac10, Dorsey is just a better player. I think that with his leadership he should have been the top defender taken. It's hard to find guys like him who play with heart...and the Saints need more of that.
The Shockster would have been a disaster on Bourbon Street, but he would definitely have been better than whoever else they'll pick up in his place (both of them, all three of them, whatever.)
I hope the Saints just keep picking up defenders and maybe a running back. I'm still huge on Doucet as a replacement for Copper, etc.
by xen on Apr 27, 2008 9:35 AM CDT reply actions
totally disagree
If you think correctly predicting the draft board and being totally prepared to make trades to get the guys you want is a minimal expectation, there are an awful lots of FOs in the league right now who don't meet those expectations. Perhaps it should be every fan's expectation, but my point is that there are a lot of FOs who do not do this.
I know all of their moves haven't worked out, but at least they're willing to cut their losses if they don't. That is another trait that few FOs (especially the last 2 for the Saints) display on a regular basis.
As for Ellis vs. Dorsey, we'll see. The Saints obviously thought Dorsey was better as well, hence they offered two 1s and another pick to get him. What else are they supposed to do? They couldn't get him so they got the next best guy at that position.
FO's that are unprepared
Yes, I realize that a bunch of the FO's out there are terrible, but that doesn't mean that we should be happy that ours is trade-obsessed.
Speaking of terrible FO's, wasn't it the Vikings who forgot to pick last year? Classic.
My problem with Ellis is even if he doesn't perform, he holds the team hostage with his high pay. If they'd chosen at lower positions in the draft, they could shore up the special teams more and not be held hostage by a high draft pick when they have real producers, such as Smith, waiting for a new contract. I think that Ellis is going to hang around and eat up a ton of money for the next 3-4 years. I hope he's good, obviously, but I'm not sure this NC State guy in the 5th round is going to be any different on production. I would have stayed put or traded down from that 11 spot, both are options which the Saints supposedly discussed. They are really going for the now. I mean, Brees only has so many good years so I guess that's not a bad idea. But they are taking a lot of risk the way they work this draft board.
by xen on Apr 27, 2008 2:23 PM CDT reply actions
final piece
Yeah, I hear you. I think that Brees needs a legitimate threat at receiver (a Horn replacement) and a bruising running back (healthy McCallister) to carry the Saints to the SB. They may have gotten a receiver, but he won't be a Horn-type go-to guy.
For a while I was hoping they'd trade for Boldin or Crazy Chad (although the latter is expensive!)
Overall, draft looks like it produced 3 possible players, at least one possible starter, and a couple hopefuls. Not great but still pretty good. At least the picks make more sense than last year.
You know, the only pick I don't like is this Indiana cb. He isn't even projected to play. And I'm not sure why the Gramatica kicker isn't good enough...is he expensive or something?
by xen on Apr 27, 2008 8:32 PM CDT reply actions
A thumbs up for y'all's FO from up north
Personally, I've got to give your FO props for jumping us to get to Ellis. I'd been sitting there, hoping against hope that the inept team of Mike Brown and his extended family would get some gumption and do the trading up for Ellis themselves. However, just as they did by spurning the Redskins offer of two firsts for Chad Johnson the night before the draft, the wonder twins once again promptly stepped on their dicks- or sat on them in this case. As of last night, no offense meant to Keith Rivers or Jerome Simpson- fine players both, I was ready to storm the Brown compound with torches and pitchforks over his treatment of we villagers/season ticket holders.
After today, I'm a little calmer with Pat Sims in the fold and, provided he can control himself off the field, a NT, in Jason Shirley, that beat Ellis' 40 time by almost 3 tenths of a second, out verticaled him by 8 inches and out broadjumped him by over a foot. Not to mention he's got him by 5 inches and 30 pounds. Of course, he also likes to drive drunk into apartment buildings and finished this past season kicked off his team. Then I bolt upright in bed and remember I'm still a Bengals fan. Sigh.
You wouldn't be interested in trading Sedrick for Chad now would ya? ;)
by IgnatiusJReilly on Apr 28, 2008 1:31 AM CDT reply actions

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