Could Stanley Arnoux replace Jonathan Casillas?

Yeah, Moore is up, sorry. Forgot about that. But even then, we’ve got potential replacements in-house if we can’t agree on terms. Henderson is one year into a 4-year, he’s not up. Meachem still has two more to go on his 5-year rookie deal. Colston’s extension was only three years but it was an extension, not a replacement, so he’s signed through 2011 as well.

Granted, with Brees AND both Meachem and Colston due after 2011 we’ll probably start at least trying to do extensions next offseason. But none of them are due such that we have to spend draft picks next year to replace them.

Bushrod and Goodwin, same thing. Oh I’m sure we’ll try to keep them (especially Goodwin) if we can, but we’ve got potential replacements already in training just in case.

Nicks might be a bit more difficult but I bet we’ll try hardest to keep him. Especially since we don’t have a clear successor in the wings. But you rarely draft all that many guards in the first round anyway, unless there’s somebody just so awesome we have to have him, I don’t expect this to affect our strategy even if we can’t resign him.

Thomas is up, he’s on a one-year RFA contract. I suspect we’ll try to keep him, but even if we don’t I can’t see us changing our whole draft strategy over losing him. I don’t really expect Humphrey to last the season, but if he does, he’ll either be under contract or an ERFA, either way, he’s not a concern. Strief is up as well, he’s also on a one-year RFA, but again he’s not somebody to jumble the entire draft strategy over. And he’s also not a superstar such that we can’t bring him back at an affordable rate.

Bush isn’t up, his rookie deal goes through 2011 as well. Shockey isn’t up until 2011 either, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t keep him after that, especially if we do keep Thomas. Bush is far harder to call, will depend on how he does this year. And what kind of money he wants.

So what does that leave us with? Three starters and three other important role-players whose contracts are up, at least three of which should be fairly easy to retain if we want to, plus one which we will try very hard to keep (in fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised for Nicks to get extended during the season).

Worst to worst we need a new Guard and we need a few late-rounders to develop to potentially replace people coming due in 2011. None of which means we can’t draft defense in the first round, or at least the second. And probably at least two or three defensive players in total.