I dont see why he’d leave, why’d anyone leave after being a key part to winning the SB? Only way he leaves is if someone offers him what in Oakland we call “a javon walker” contract

That the Saints are seeking to restructure Reggie’s contract. The problem of course would be if Reggie doesn’t want to restructure. The article also mentioned that Pete Carroll is very interested in having Reggie in Seattle, and the Lions could also be interested if the Saints have to release him because of the contract.

Reggie and the Saints should restructure his contract down.

He simply isn’t worth the money he is up for. Yet. He fits in with this team and if he can run like he did in the playoffs (a few cuts, then north-south with a strong finish) he will get better really fast. I think he deserves a step up from what he made this year, but 8 million is too much. I think somewhere between 3 and 4.5 million is fair. Then load it up with lofty incentives. Do we know what his incentives look like now? Is that 8 million the salary or with incentives? I have no problem with him getting paid 7,8,9, 10, even 11 million if he explodes and has an MVP quality year. If they don’t restructure and just pay him, that’s rough, but probably what would happen without a new deal. They can’t trade him for that price unless someone believes he can be an every down back and they sure as hell won’t just cut him.

the Saints should pay him his preordained contract value and keep him. Basically, do nothing. Again, for one year, he can’t hurt the team’s ability to compete because of finances. And he’s capable of being a really good player. Of course, if some other team(cough, Seattle, cough) wanted to mortgage the farm for him, I’d be perfectly okay with that, but his value is high enough to get back anything that was put into him, and he’s good enough not to accept less. That said, he belongs on a committee, and he should probably want to stay put, as long as Loomis doesn’t try to lowball him. I’m really more worried about losing PT right now, as running backs go. Any of ours could be replaced by a competent player and a new game plan, but PT is already good, a great value, and here, and I could see a lot of interest being thrown his way from the rest of the league. Reggie is a more “interesting”-shall we say- player, but he is not nearly the same value as Thomas, at $8 million for around 1000 yards, with a likely 4-game or more injury absence any given season. I think the uncapped year, along with the great opportunity for increased revenue from being league champs, makes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the financial wizards of the Saints to let sleeping dogs like Reggie lie, and wait until next year to talk contracts.

He ought to be thanking the rest of the team for all the incentives he got. And do exactly what SP tells him to do.I mean he is the coach, Right?

and pay him serious incentives. Lead the league in yards….$$$ Lead the league in td’s…$$$$ Lead the league in all-purpose yards…$$$$$ etc, etc. The only prob with incentives for rushing, it would be hard to lead the league in a lot of categories when you share duties and responsibilities with another quality back (P.T.)

Towards the end of the season, the gf started hootin’ and hollerin’ for Reggie…“Run for your money REGGIE!” That’s about sums it up…he was payed massive money, and prob had close to the same stats as P.T., who made significantly less.

I’d like to seem them restructure with incentives in some areas, but most importantly give him a large chunk of his money in the signing bonus so that he can still make big money this year (to get him to sign the restructure) but then in the future he won’t cripple our flexibility under the cap for a “role player”.

I’m almost positve they would take him for that and we will get a high first rounder
Then we can load up on defense i think we would get a great OLB and DT in the first round with seattle’s pick and ours
Can you imagine getting Kindle or Witherspoon to go along with Cody we would have an immediate upgrade on our defensive front seven
And i dont think that would alter our offensive game plan all that much we would still have

Thomas rb
Bell rb
Hamilton rb
Colsten wr
Moore wr
Meachum wr
Henderson wr
Heath Evans fb
Shockey TE
Millier TE
Wendy’s TE
Brees QB
Daniels QB

Maybe we could even pick up a LT

he’s a marketing Titan. Couldn’t they work some campaign where Reggie gets less of a salary but makes millions in endorsements or from selling products etc? Maybe the Kardashian show becomes an advertiser/sponsor at the Superdome or on tv or something.

not every playmaker on our team contributes every game. obviously he can be replaced, but with who? CJ Spiller, Dexter McCluster, etc. probably dont have that much more (if any more at all) to offer than what reggie provides except we would have to start over with rookies. i think reggie is happy here and realizes that if he wants to make a noticeably higher amount of money, he will have to go to a crappy team and have a larger workload. but what did every single saints player say when asked what they planned to do next year…. “REPEAT!!”

Indicated they thought Bush would be open to a restructure of his contract. In the article, Bush was quoted as saying he “wanted to play for New Orleans the rest of his career”.

Given Reggie’s desire for the spotlight, his opportunity for that would be better with the Saints than probably any other team that would be interested in acquiring him. Going to a team that is likely serveral years at best from being in a legitimate Super Bowl contender for more up-front money would likely lessen his potential endorsement earning potential. That could make it close to a financial wash in the long run. My huntch is he would rather play for the Saints for 5 million a year than play for Detroit for 8 million. Seattle may be an interesting option, but my guess is that Pete Carroll is going to find success as a head coach in the NFL a lot more difficult than what he enjoyed at USC. Even if he does considerably better than Sabal or Spurrier, it will still probably take several years for Seattle to become a legitimate contender.

I’ll be very surprised and disappointed if Reggie isn’t wearing a Saints uniform next year.

Give him a Superbowl ring and remind him he has lots more fingers!

Signing Kim to be a Saintsation might also help.

The more rumors come out about Reggie right now, the more he wants to leave and the more $$ he wants to get. The rumors sound great but are potential bs. If PC wants Reggie, he will make an offer. He doesn’t need to create rumors to screw the Saints.

The best place to find football news (other than CSC) is Pro Football Talk. It’s super gossip-y. It’s where the owners go for their news. ;) http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/

The more rumors come out about Reggie right now, the more he wants to leave and the more $$ he wants to get. The rumors sound great but are potential bs. If PC wants Reggie, he will make an offer. He doesn’t need to create rumors to screw the Saints.

The best place to find football news (other than CSC) is Pro Football Talk. It’s super gossip-y. It’s where the owners go for their news. ;) http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/

Any raise in salary for Reggie would give a lot of strength to the arguments of other players for pay bumps. Now given the talent that our scouts have been able to come up with among other teams mistaken cast offs and barring a serious restructuring of his contract, wouldn’t it behoove the organization to let him go? While he is an important part of the offense as it is currently structured, the gap can be filled with some changes in assignment on certain plays. Of course the dream solution is to restructure with a heavily incentivized contract wherein he’ll feel the pinch for spending games running east-west, but I just don’t see it happening. I’ve been worrying about this one for a while now.

A Bush in da Hand is better than an LT up da road. Keep Bush forget LT, and let’s play some more ball.
Reggie is far more important to da Saints than we think he is. He opens up alot of other players just being on da field, and even being on da sidelines, he has to be accounted for, in case they run him in real quick. Da guy is a Monster Threat every time he touches da ball. Not many in da league like him, da guy in Philly is better, because they actually get him open. We need to work Bush more into a receiver type position, and do with him what da Vikes do with Harvin and da Eagles do with Jackson.

I think he has more in him. He is pretty proud of that ring and I am wondering now that he knows what it feels like if we will see more dedication from him next year.

Sometimes I question where his focus is. Some games he is super focused and others I can’t figure out where his head is at. He needs to get that s**t straight. I really don’t think Payton is going to let him go. I have a feeling they will work it out somehow.

but Reggie is pretty fantastic when he’s completely healthy. I’ve had this argument a number of times with an aquaintance that absolutely hates the guy, and have done all the research for one of those arguments. I don’t feel like digging it all up again. Reggie’s dedication to the offseason program at this time last year, and Payton’s intelligent implementation of him in the gameplan really showed throughout the season (though he definitely should have been in instead of Bell on the plays mentioned above; I was yelling my head off at the time). I would hate to ship him off just when he’s turning the corner. It’s an uncapped year. Try to restructure, and if he doesn’t go for it, bite the bullet, pay him this year, pray he stays healthy, and see what he’s really capable of.

not restructure his contract, if the Saints wont pay him, many teams out there would die to have him for 8 mil. I play arena football, i played in D1 college, and i have a different perspective about this guy:

Strengths:
1) Run the ball up the middle: We saw him run between the tackles in the playoffs and kind run over some DB and Safety at time. I agree this is a developing area of his game, but he can do it.
2)Run to the outside: We all know he can do this, he can beat most LB and Lineman to the outside, his speed allows this.
3)Catch the ball: Always one of the leaders in receptions on the team, he can even play WR, there is one play where he lines up real wide and Colston lines up inside of him and he runs a go route to take the safety and the CB with him and Colston does an out underneath him, this worked in the playoffs and Superbowl and was a key 3rd down play in both. Plus his downfield blocking got Colston even more yards.
4)Return kicks: amazing vision , cut back ability, and good hands needed at this position, which he has and has produced.
5)Marketing: He is one of the superstars of the NFL, fans of other teams know who he is, he sells tickets and bring attention to the Saints. A good guy, a great community member, and great teammate.
6)Decoy: He is undeniably the most effective decoy in the NFL, ask any Defensive coordinator in the league. Because of his exposure and big name, defenders are aware of #25 on the field and are forced to be concerned with his presence regarding the play. Ive seen game film, (not what you see on tv), game film of this guys effectiveness. Its crazy, you see a whole Defense gravitate towards him. Faking him the ball to a sideline opens up the middle of the field where Drew loves to the throw the ball. You see the LB go towards him, and you see CB step up exposing their coverages. The chances of a play succeeding go up about 90% when he is on the field.

Weakness:
1)Production: his production does not match with CJ or with Ronnie Brown or other RB in the league. But why? because he is on a team that is predicated with spreading the ball, no one on the team will have inflated numbers, even tho our QB does. Because the ball needs to be spread in order to succeed for the saints.
2)Injuries: He has had some major injuries in the past 4 seasons, however i think that was because he was over exerting himself trying to meet his expectations. I think now that he is comfortable in this system and not worried about his draft hype, he can concentrate on his game more.
3)Kim K: If you see her presence as a negative, than you are a self hating homosexual. And probably aren’t that interested in football anyway.

Conclusion:
This guy is an amazing player, he is brought in on 3rd downs to make magic happen, and he does. Imagine if you were a player who was only brought in on 3rd downs, don’t you think defender would key in on you and say he is in, so its obvious where the ball is going, yet he still manages to produce. He does what he is asked to do, and does it better than anyone else in the league could do. His skill set is unmatched, maybe 2 or 3 other players in the league can do the things he does. Its, sad because you hear analysts that don’t watch Saints games or know this system just look at his stats and start spewing off at the mouth about how low is production his. People dont understand that stats are a only a window to a players production. They don’t see how many key chip blocks he made to give our QB more time, or the all times he converted 3’rd 7 to keep drives going. There are a number of factors that aren’t measured and are overlooked by the untrained eye. Teams in the current era need 2 RB’s, a bruiser and a playmaker. They need thomas to hit the holes and get 3-4 yards, while the ask Reggie to make the more explosive play. Few teams have his combo (Barber/Jones, LT/Sproules, Brown/Williams, AP/Harvin, Jones/Green, Weaver/Mccoy,) Although i do want to add, some of his success this year came because of Pierre Thomas’ presence, he emerged as a great runner and took of the attention away from Reggie, which allowed him to produce under the radar at times. But this year because of his newer contract, pressure of repeat, he will have even more attention against him, and he will have to work even harder to succeed. However, I believe and seen that he can rise to this challenge and amaze people again. Good luck to him and the Saints in 2010. Holla.