Approval Rating: Grading the Saints Off-Season

I would feel better about it if they would hurry up and lock in a veteran OLB. I’m sure they have a plan for landing such a player but I’ll feel better when it happens.

then we got off easy, while adding a few players and trimming some fat. signing jahri was huge, esp since his contract is very front loaded and will help us out against the cap in the future (assuming there is a cap after this year)

is to sign pt to a long term deal to bump that B+ up to a A. also signing brees to a huge deal would be pretty sweet, he deserves it more than anyone else

Like Big and Easy, the OLB situation continues to unnerve me. Signing Pierre Thomas to long term contract should be priority one, though. I’d also like to see an upgrade at SLB, a veteran RB of the “bigger” variety and a younger veteran backup QB with at least a hint of starting experience. Jammal Brown still appears to be our biggest bargaining chip in the “let’s get better quick” market. Whether they’re able or willing to act upon that opportunity remains to be seen. Still would love to see a true franchise LT, but that’s obviously not happening anytime soon. Both Roman Harper and Lance Moore can ride out their one year tenders, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t view either as anything special. All in all, they’ve managed to tread water, which is fine, as long as we’re remaining competitive in a league built on parity.

Williams is calling the shots and he decided he needed to upgrade the line and the secondary…

I know there are strong feelings on the need to upgrade at OLB… they had the chance to draft one and passed, there are a couple of experienced guys out there and they only viewed the JAX guy who left without a contract.. they said all along they are cool with the guys in the building…. or maybe they are waiting for someone to be released… time will tell

They replaced Grant with two studs (Brown and Wilkerson)…. loved it… and the draft was a good example of a team not only in “win now” mode, although I wouldnt be surprised if Brown and Woods get a crack at the starting lineup (I am assuming P-Rob will see a ton of action anyway)

Get a veteran QB and that’s an A for me

With my limited knowledge of the players we haven’t seen much…
…not grading on what we did last year…
…not grading on what might be done before the start of the season…

I’m not sure how they get higher than a B-.

Our biggest need was not filled through Free Agency, trades, or even the draft.

We brought in a few veteran guys who have a good chance of being productive, we’ve drafted a few rookies who have a chance to be productive in the coming years (not necessarily this one), and we’ve resigned some key people. That gets you some points.

But, until they do something about OLB, resign PT and a few others, sign a veteran QB with at least a hint of winning experience, there’s no way to give them more than a B-.

Again, that is with the limited knowledge that we have about the players (OLB esp) that we have not seen much of.

I PayLoo We Trust! …you gotta trust ‘em because they’re not gonna give you (or the other teams) any indication of what they’re thinking/doing behind he scenes.

Seems to be the general consensus, and I’m on board with that too. It would be an “A” for me, except for the loss of Fujita. He got a deal he couldn’t refuse from Cleveland, and I’m happy for him. I think the leadership in the locker room and his activity in the community is what I’ll miss most from him.

I’m among those disappointed that we didn’t improve the LB position through the draft, but if they (GW, Loomis, etc.) say they like the guys in the building, I’m going to go with that. I wasn’t a huge fan on how the Sharper situation was dragged out, but we resigned him, which seemed to be what our intent was all along. No big splashes through the draft, which is tough to do when you’re picking last, but that’s fine with me.

Some core players still need to be re-signed, and the backup QB situation needs to be addressed. Nothing major was done, but you have to admit (apart from LB) we didn’t really need anything major either.

The Saints have kept most of their key players (Pierre Thomas remains unsigned). They’ve added free agents and draftees to plug potential holes (outside linebacker? obviously Payton and Williams don’t consider that a very high priority…and I’m inclined to trust their judgment over mine).

But the Vicodin scandal has not played itself out. It will either turn out to be a blip in the continuum, or it will tear the team apart. Until we find out how this turns out, how can you assess the importance of anything else?

Still too much unfinished business, LB and RB are the 2 most worrisome positions, but not locking up Pierre Thomas. Drew Brees, and a couple others to long-term deals is scary. With the uncapped year, now would be a great time to get those deals done. And the Jammal Brown situation is still unresolved. With a huge bullseye on their back right now, I am not confident that they will maintain the same level of success they experienced last year.

Things are going well so far. They identified that parts of their defense need to be addressed. We were passed on alot last year because teams were always playing catchup. By adding another 1st round corner is a great way to approach this problem. The new Longsnapper we obtained was a great addition, along with adding Al Woods to our depth chart.

I know a lot of people wanted to address the LB position, but we do not even know what our Wake Forrest Rookies can do.
We recently signed D. Sharp to a more than Fair contract. In addition to locking up Jari Evans for the next 7 years.

Best guard for the next 7 years + best FS in the league= pretty good business.

Pierre Thomas, and Lance Moore will get contracts soon. Wheras Benson would rather the Dome to burn then not get Drew Brees on a longer term contract

So far this offseason. They have done a fairly good job in addressing needs and have done a very good job in protecting exsisting players on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, allowing them to keep the championship winning team intact. We’ll have to see what happens with regards to the LB spot.

I am not knowledgable enough to give a grade but I look forward to this next season, learning more and also proving I’m not a bandwagon fan.

PT must get a raise in pay. Agree OLB was their most glaring weakness on D. Like the 7Th pick. Would like to see Jeff Garcia in a Saints uniform as a back up to Drew.

Thought they didn’t Do the right thing as far as OLB. Give PT a raise. Sign Jeff Garcia as Drew’s backup. Damn I otta be a manager.

i’m still not liking the way we drafted. I think that we should have already addressed the OLB spot if we end up doing that this year. Otherwise(depending on Arnoux’s season-the likely starter there?) i’ll have to see how he does. I would’ve given this an A if we could’ve kept Fujita but we only lost 1 big cog to our many wheels. The draft leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. We spent a 1st round pick on a corner. That gives us Porter and Greer who started last season and will mostly likely keep their spots, Jenkins who was our first round pick last year and now Robinson who’s our first round pick this year. When we already have two starting CBs and a talented nickel back why do we waste this pick with a CB when we could’ve gotten an OLB or DE(how long can Smith produce and can Brown excell here). Could’ve used that pick on a DT too although I believe that Woods(with the limited times i have watched an LSU game) can come in and win the starting job beside Ellis but we didn’t know who we could get in the later rounds. I’m just disapointed but we did sign some players to contract extensions and still have a legitimate shot at a repeat so I couldn’t be any worse than a C.

I rarely get caught up in our rookies as we have shown to make them GREAT and TERRIBLE…not every rookie of ours has panned out

We seem to have gotten a good class but who knows

Alex Brown came cheap which worries me that others know something we don’t about him