With two pre-season games under their belt, we're unofficially allowed now to take a legitimate crack at predicting the Saints final 53-man roster for the 2010 season. So after the jump you will find my own, personal attempt at anticipating which players will be listed on the week one roster when the Saints take on the Minnesota Vikings on September 9th. Not necessarily in depth chart order.
Maybe you'll praise me or tell my I'm crazy but now's not the time to start getting lazy. This is meant to stir up debate and get everyone talking so go nuts in the comment section.
Offense
| Position | Player | Player | Player | Player | Player | Player |
| QB | Drew Brees | Chase Daniel | ||||
| RB | Pierre Thomas | Reggie Bush | Chris Ivory | Ladell Betts | ||
| FB | Heath Evans | |||||
| WR | Marques Colston | Robert Meachem | Lance Moore | Devery Henderson | Adrian Arrington | Courtney Roby |
| TE | Jeremy Shockey | David Thomas | Jimmy Graham | |||
| C | Jonathan Goodwin | Matt Tennant | ||||
| G | Jahri Evans | Carl Nicks | Terrence Metcalf | |||
| T | Jermon Bushrod | Jon Stinchcomb | Zach Strief | Charles Brown |
Defense
| Position | Player | Player | Player | Player | Player | Player | Player |
| DE | Will Smith | Anthony Hargrove | Alex Brown | Jeff Charleston | |||
| DT | Sedrick Ellis | Remi Ayodele | Al Woods | Jimmy Wilkerson | |||
| LB | Jonathan Vilma | Scott Shanle | Jonathan Casillas | Jo-Lonn Dunbar | Clint Ingram | Troy Evans | Marvin Mitchell |
| CB | Jabari Greer | Tracy Porter | Randall Gay | Patrick Robinson | |||
| SS | Roman Harper | Pierson Prioleau | Chris Reis | ||||
| FS | Darren Sharper | Malcolm Jenkins | Usama Young |
Special Teams
| Position | Player |
| Kicker | Garrett Hartley |
| Punter | Thomas Morstead |
| Long Snapper | Jason Kyle |
Won't Make the Cut
QB - Patrick Ramsey, Sean Canfield - To make room for players at other positions - like wide receiver, linebacker and safety - who also play an important part on special teams, I think the Saints might only keep two quarterbacks on the active roster. After Saturday night's performance, Daniel is the trendy pick for the backup spot; who am I to disagree. Canfield probably gets called back for the practice squad.
RB - DeShawn Wynn - This guy can't stay healthy. Even if he does, I don't think he has a chance. Ladell Betts has got to be the better back, otherwise the Saints wouldn't have signed him before Wynn.
FB - Zak Keasey, Jason McKie - The Saints have always only carried one fullback on the roster. Heath Evans is still that one.
WR - Rod Harper, Montez Billings, Mark Bradley, Andy Tanner - Since I think the Saints are going to keep six receivers on the roster, the Harper may once again get stashed on the practice squad for another year.
TE - Tory Humphrey, Tyler Lorenzen - We've seen just a little from each of these two, maybe even more than we've seen from Jimmy Graham. But Graham seems to have way more upside.
T - Na'Shan Goddard, Jermey Parnell - These two making the team would really surprise me.
G - Brandon Carter, Tim Duckworth - When Carl Nicks was demoted last week from the one's, it was Terrence Metcalf who replaced him. I had to give him the nod for the final 53 over Carter and Duckworth.
C - Nick Leckey - Get's beat out by the young rookie, Matt Tennant.
DE - Bobby McCray, Junior Galette - The Saints already cut McCray once and it didn't sound like they really wanted to bring him back so I don't think they would have a problem getting rid of him again. Galette is a solid candidate for the practice squad.
DT - DeMario Pressley, Jay Ross - Pressley didn't make the final cut last pre-season. Hopefully the Saints have improved enough at the position for that to still hold true. As for Jay Ross, I honestly don't know really know very much about him.
LB - Stanley Arnoux, Harry Coleman, Anthony Waters - Even though I picture the Saints keeping seven linebackers this season, these three guys still don't make the cut. Disappointing in Arnoux's case but maybe he's practice squad material.
CB - Leigh Torrence, Danny Gorrer, Reggie Jones - Other than Torrence, I don't think this was a tough decision. If Patrick Robinson wasn't a first-round pick, things might be different.
S - Chip Vaughn - The only safety not to make the roster, Vaughn hasn't shown enough this pre-season.