Free Agency News

By John Sigler | Saintswire

The New Orleans Saints will be poring over the lists of unrestricted free agents from every NFL team, looking for players who can help the black and gold. So we’ll be highlighting the options each team presents, every day of the week and twice on Saturdays. We’ll get started with the Arizona Cardinals.
Unrestricted free agents

DE Benson Mayowa
DE Markus Golden
DE Zach Moore
DT Rodney Gunter
FB Derrick Coleman
FS Tre Boston
K Phil Dawson
LB Deone Bucannon
LB Gerald Hodges
OG Mike Iupati
OG Oday Aboushi
OT Joe Barksdale
TE John Phillips
WR J.J. Nelson

Options for the Saints

Defensive tackle Rodney Gunter is an intriguing free agent. He’s a nose tackle (listed at 6-foot-5, 305-pounds) just hitting his prime at 27 years of age. Gunter logged a career-high 44 combined tackles last year (32 solo, 12 for no gain or loss of yards) to go with 4.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits. That profiles him as a disruptive presence who can anchor the middle of the line, offering more upside than the Saints’ incumbent nose tackles — Tyeler Davison had just two tackles for loss or no gain, and Taylor Stallworth only one. ...

Full Story - Saintswire - USA...

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

By Mike Triplett | ESPN Staff Writer

METAIRIE, La. -- Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater would be an ideal successor to Drew Brees for the New Orleans Saints. The only thing that doesn't seem to fit is the timing.

Bridgewater, 26, is an unrestricted free agent after his one season as Brees' backup. So in order to stay, he would have to sacrifice an opportunity to start in 2019 -- and probably leave some cash on the table -- as the Saints enter this offseason with about $7 million to $11 million in salary-cap space. ...

Even then, Bridgewater would probably stay only if he had some sort of guarantee that Brees, 40, planned to retire within a year or two.

The good news for New Orleans (and the bad news for Bridgewater) is the number of NFL teams in the market for veteran starting QBs is awfully small right now ...

Full Story - ESPN.com

(Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

By Luke Johnson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Boom and Zoom show?

Year 2 of the dynamic pairing of New Orleans Saints running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara was another success, with the duo combining for 2,407 scrimmage yards and 25 touchdowns.

Now the question becomes whether or not the Saints pick up Season 3 of the Boom and Zoom show, as Ingram heads into the offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

2018 FINAL ROSTER: Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Dwayne Washington, Zach Line (fullback)

INJURED RESERVE: Daniel Lasco

2019 FREE AGENTS: Mark Ingram , Daniel Lasco

This is arguably the biggest in-house decision the Saints face this offseason — though it might be oversimplifying it by thinking about it strictly as a decision on the Saints' side of things. ...

Full Story - NOLA.com

By John Sigler | Saintswire

The Denver Broncos reached an agreement with the Baltimore Ravens to trade for quarterback Joe Flacco, as first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN. This is bad news for New Orleans Saints backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who is set to become a free agent when the new league fiscal year begins on March 13. Bridgewater wants to be a starter in the NFL, and he deserves to be one. But the Broncos just took one starting job off the market.

Denver’s trade for Flacco takes the Broncos off the board as a potential landing spot for Bridgewater, should the Saints fail to reach a deal on a contract extension with him. The only teams expected to be in the market for a new starting quarterback are Washington, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Miami Dolphins. Odds aren’t good that the Cincinnati Bengals move on from underwhelming starter Andy Dalton.

Why are there so few starting gigs available? ...

Full Story - Saintswire - USA Today

By Sean Fazende | Fox8live

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Mention the name Tyrann Mathieu around Louisiana and it instantly brings back memories.

At LSU, Mathieu was magnificent but immature. He was Heisman finalist as a sophomore but was also dismissed from the team for multiple off-the field violations, which is why he slipped to the third round of the 2013 draft.

That seems like ages ago.

As a pro, Mathieu has been nothing but professional. He spent five seasons in Arizona before signing with the Texans in 2018. In Houston, he finished with 89 tackles and two interceptions. His durability was a concern early in his career, but Mathieu played in all 16 games in each of the last two seasons. ...

Full Story - Fox8live

See Also:
- Saints potential free agent targets: WR Adam Humphries