Draft & Free Agency

As you all know, during this offseason we have been slowly waiting for the draft while our hands are cuffed during free agency.  Although this 'Big 8' Rule definitely hinders us, it has it's leaks that allow a good team to still become better.  To date in free agency we have lost one player who was detrimental to our success last year.  Scott Fujita was not only a solid linebacker, but also a great leader on the defensive side of the ball.  We have also lost Mike Bell to the Eagles, but I think he's replaceable and was rarely used in our run to the Lombardi Trophy.  We have a great core of players on both offense and defense and a I feel another championship is definitely within our grasp if the front office executes well this offseason.  I'm really curious to see how we pick in the draft as well as what we do in the remainder of free agency, with Sharper still baiting his services through the media to teams around the league.  I believe in Loomis & Payton and since Payton became Coach he has been building us this Championship team.  While other teams get better and try to catch up to us, we have to at least make an effort to keep our stride while they chase and here's a few of my suggestions.

Free Agency

The free agent market has been picked dry, with all the marquee names having signed massive contracts with their new teams.  Even though this is true, there is always a few veterans out there that can contribute to a winning team like us.  Today, the Chicago Bears released DE Alex Brown.  I may be alone in this, but during my years of following the Saints religiously there is no team I've hated more then the Bears.  Before this season, they had ended our three seasons before that with wins in cold & windy Chicago.  Catching us out of our element all three years, luckily, they manhandled us somewhat like they did in the NFC Championship game in 2007.  The most heartbreaking defeat coming from a last second FG in the '08 season, ruining our playoff dreams in the process.  During all those games I always noticed Alex Brown rushing Brees and causing pressure.  He is a solid DE and plays really hard, I feel that he would be a great DE to match with Will Smith.  I also believe that we could get him at a good price for a few years.  In terms of Sharper, I believe he will dangle his services out there for a little while longer, but then come crawling back for a 2-3 year contract where he can finish his career competitively.

Draft    

In terms of the draft I think we need to go almost fully defensive, with the exception of drafting a pounding RB in the middle rounds.  But with our first pick, which will definitely be the most important, we need to pick an impact player who has the ability to rush off the edge.  That guy is Sean Weatherspoon.  He is a complete beast, making 376 tackles in three years of starting at linebacker for Missouri.  Not only is he a tackling machine, he's also all over the field with a 40 time that floats around 4.5.  I can only imagine him in the Black & Gold coming on a delayed blitz from the edge and laying a crunching sack on a QB like Matt Ryan.  I think if we can get a rushing linebacker such as Weatherspoon, it will add a completely different dimension to our defense.  Not only will you have to be careful against out opportunistic D, you will have to be careful while having little time to throw and thats a great mix.  I know and hope Gregg William is thinking the same.

This has been the most boring offseason yet for me as a Saints fan, as I read articles on Jeremy Shockey's attempts at a porn star on the site!  The draft is not far though my fellow Saints fans and during the shortest offseason for us as fans we better get ready because we will begin our defense of the trophy before we know it!  Don't know about the rest of you, but it's still surreal to me that we our the champs.  After all these years of mediocrity we deserve it!  One last thought to discuss, does anyone support the idea of trading one of our WR such as Lance Moore and a low draft pick for a good defensive player?  Let me know what you think.