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New Orleans Saints free agent signings by season under Sean Payton

Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton have been at it together for over a decade now, and the Saints face their most important offseason yet.

By John J. Hendrix
New Orleans Saints v Tampa Bay Buccaneers

When you mention free agency and the New Orleans Saints over the past 10 years, you’re liable to get some good chuckles out of it. However, Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis have not always missed on the nearly 75 players brought in. As we are less than two weeks away from NFL Free Agency spend-a-thon, we take a comprehensive look back at the players brought in during the Payton-Loomis Era.

  • 2006: Drew Brees, Scott Fujita, Mark Campbell, Omar Stoutmire, Terrance Copper, Curtis Deloatch, Danny Clark, Billy Miller, Anthony Simmons, Rob Petitti, Chris Horn, Tommy Polley, Jay Foreman
  • 2007: Jason David, Troy Evans, David Patten, Dhani Jones, Kendrick Clancy, Eric Johnson, Kevin Kaesviharn, Brian Simmons
  • 2008: Randall Gay, Aaron Glenn, Mark Brunell, Dan Morgan, Bobby McCray
  • 2009: Darren Sharper, Jabari Greer, Heath Evans, Dan Campbell, Anthony Hargrove, Paul Spicer, Pierson Prioleau, Darnell Dinkins
  • 2010: Clint Ingram, Alex Brown, Jimmy Wilkerson
  • 2011: Darren Sproles, Shaun Rogers, Aubrayo Franklin, Will Herring, Olin Kreutz, John Kasay, Korey Hall, John Gilmore, Turk McBride
  • 2012: Curtis Lofton, Ben Grubbs, Chris Chamberlain, David Hawthorne, Brodrick Bunkley, Rafael Bush, Elbert Mack
  • 2013: Keenan Lewis, Benjamin Watson, Victor Butler, Jim Leonhard
  • 2014: Marcus Ball, Jairus Byrd, Jonathan Goodwin, Champ Bailey, Erik Lorig
  • 2015: C.J. Spiller, Brandon Browner, Kyle Wilson, Anthony Spencer, Joe Morgan
  • 2016: James Laurinaitis, Nick Fairley, Craig Robertson, Nathan Stupar, Erik Harris, Josh Scobee, Coby Fleener

Obviously, you could include players like Sterling Moore, Paul Kruger, Darryl Tapp, John Kuhn, and B.W. Webb in the equation for last season. However, they were post-free agency additions. If you factored that in for the Saints since 2006, then you'd be well over 100 players brought in for the past decade.

On paper, some free agent classes looked more appealing than others. However, we know better than to crown anyone for being 'offseason champions'. By the end of last March, the Saints had spent a total of $45.7 million on free agents, shelling out $19.9 million in guaranteed money. Obviously, the bulk of that went to tight end Coby Fleener ($14.6 million guaranteed from 2016-17).

What was your favorite free agent class or favorite free agent add besides Drew Brees? Who was your biggest bust and why?

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