Rate My Interactive Offseason Game: New Orleans Saints GM (how'd I represent you guys?) (1 Viewer)

How would you rate my offseason?

  • 10: SUPERBOWL, here we come!

    Votes: 6 11.8%
  • 9: Vastly upgraded the team

    Votes: 8 15.7%
  • 8: Very good offseason

    Votes: 17 33.3%
  • 7: Solid but unspectacular

    Votes: 12 23.5%
  • 6: Improved the roster, but not by too much

    Votes: 3 5.9%
  • 5: Average offseason, mostly sideways movement

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • 4: Team actually got a bit worse

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3: Team got significantly worse

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2: ***, you messed up the Saints!!!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: #1 OVERALL PICK, here we come!

    Votes: 4 7.8%

  • Total voters
    51

Curufin

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Hi guys, I participated in a mock interactive offseason game as the New Orleans Saints GM, I'd like to know how y'all thought my offseason panned out.

This started at the beginning of Free Agency, so NONE of the actual Saints current moves were made. I signed my own FAs.

My goals were defense, defense, and more defense.

Pre-Draft Trades

Draft Pick #109 for Jonathan Vilma, MLB: Nothing exciting, just mirroring the real life trade.

Free Agent Signings

Lance Briggs, OLB: I targetted both him and Asante Samuel, but Samuel's bidding got out of hand and I wouldn't have been able to squeeze him under the cap and sign anyone else. Doesn't matter though cause I got by far the best LB available, and filled a huge need for the Saints.

Boss Bailey, OLB: I chose not to tender Matt McCoy, and so got Boss Bailey to replace him. Bailey is quality depth and can make an impact on special teams.

Dan Morgan, MLB: Hehe, maybe I'm a bit of a prophet. I actually signed Morgan before the actual real life Saints signed him, provides quality depth behind Vilma.

Jacob Bell, OG: The second highest rated OG in FAcy this year behind Alan Faneca. Provides great depth and could instantly challenge for a starting spot.

Devery Hendersen, WR: I went after Bernard Berrian but got outbid. I guess Hendersen can be a poor man's Berrian, and he has some upside.

Jerome Mathis, WR/KR: The Saints were sorely needing a KR. Mathis could be a viable fourth or fifth WR option, but his sole duties will be on returning kicks and punts. Made the Pro Bowl as a returner during his rookie year.

Brian Young, DT: A solid player that I resigned for cheap. We all know the Saints gotta claw for all they've got at the DT positions.

Mike Rucker, DE: Good depth along the line. Old but maybe he's still got a bit left in the tank.

Mike Doss, SS: Just provides some depth among the secondary.

Aaron Glenn, CB: A former Pro Bowl CB that could be brought in to tutor the CBs I will be drafting. Still has a bit left in the tank.

I pursued Bernard Berrian, Randall Gay, Gibril Wilson, Alge Crumpler, and Rod Coleman but I couldn't squeeze them under the allotted cap room.

Draft Trades

Draft Pick #10 (1st Round) for Draft Pick #32 (2nd Round), Draft Pick #57 (2nd Round), DE Jason Taylor, Draft Pick #96 (4th Round): Miami had San Diego's second round pick. I got this monster of an offer for the #10 overall. I actually tried to trade up to #7 (Glenn Dorsey was there), but the asking price was my first and second rounder, which I was not willing to give. I'm glad I waited around though, as I was able to trade down and accumulate a load of draft picks, and a great DE. Jason Taylor will really push Charles Grant's lazy *** to work harder and would be a huge help on the DLine.

The Draft

Round 2 Pick 32:Reggie Smith, CB/S, Oklahoma.

I love this guy. I honestly thing he's only behind Leodis McKelvin and Mike Jenkins as CB prospects. What's more, he doubles as a Safety and triples as a kick returner. I honestly think that he's a better Safety than Kenny Phillips; had Smith stayed at Safety his final year instead of moving to CB to help his team, he probably would be ranked higher than Phillips. The fact that he's garnered a first round grade at both Safety and Cornerback really shows his versatility and athleticism.

Round 2 Pick 40: Pat Sims, DT, Auburn.

A great DT with monster upside. A solid player against the run and a monster penetrator in the pass rush, he fills a huge need for the Saints. Could you imagine this on passing downs: LDE Jason Taylor, NT Pat Sims, UT Charles Grant, RDE Will Smith. That's ferocious.

Round 2 Pick 57: Tracy Porter, CB, Indiana.

Combine 40:
4.37
Pro Day 40: 4.29

In my opinion, he outperformed DRC at the Senior Bowl. A true playmaker at the CB position, he's actually a lot like Leodis McKelvin. Terrific in man coverage, but has great hands unlike McKelvin. Could work on his bump coverage though. Has elite speed and playmaking skills, running in the 4.2 - 4.3 range.

Round 3 Pick Pick 78: Martellus Bennett, TE, Texas A&M.

Fred Davis and Dustin Keller were off the board. However, I believe Bennett is the most complete TE prospect in the draft; while he may not have the receiving skills of Davis and Keller, he is far above either of them as a blocker. He's the best blend of receiving and blocking in this draft.

Round 4 Pick 96: Quintin Demps, FS, UTEP.

Combine 40:
4.40

He is a blistering fast playmaker that could compete with Bullocks for the FS job immediately. Had 5 INTs this year and 7 INTs last year; he is the definition of a playmaker. Ran a 4.40 at the combine, which is blistering fast for a Safety. The knock on him is that he does not play the run all that great, but honestly with Briggs, Vilma, and Fujita as your LBs, who needs a run stuffing Safety :p. He excels in coverage and would definitely help out the Saints struggling secondary.

Round 5 Pick 138: John Sullivan, OC, Notre Dame.

The best Center left on the board, great value in the fifth round; he's universally projected as a third rounder. With Jeff Faine bolting for Tampa, Sullivan would compete for the starting Center job and adds some depth along the OLine.

Round 6 Pick 169: Jack Williams, CB, Kent.

Combine 40:
4.55
Pro Day 40: 4.33

His slow Combine 40 was actually due to him recuperating an ankle injury. He ran closer to his true time at his Pro Day, a blistering 4.33. Notched 93 tackles while battling ankle injuries his senior campaign, showing his toughness and willingness to play the run. He is pretty much the perfect Nickelback: good man-to-man skills, a bit undersized but with superb strength and very good against the run.

Round 7 Pick 200: Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee.

By far the BPA left on the board, I have no idea how he fell this far. He has all the tools to be a great QB, but is very inconsistent; at times he looks like a top 5 pick, while at others he looks like he wouldn't even be drafted. QB is one of the last things the Saints need, but I think that learning under Brees, Ainge could grow into a Matt Schaub type deal (Atlanta moved up 2 spots in the first and acquired 2 second rounders for Schaub) down the road. At worst, he's a 7th round bust, and honestly can you even call a 7th rounder a bust?

Final Depth Chart

(taken and modified from Yahoo! Sports - NFL - New Orleans Saints - Depth Chart so don't shoot me if some players are no longer here or whatnot)

Keep in mind that I had to go through FAcy myself, so some of the current Saints players are not actually Saints in my world.

My contributions are bolded and underlined.

I realize that I've gone way over the roster limit, but we didn't actually have a limit during our mock, so you might see some unrealistic things (such as 9 Cornerbacks :p).

QB: Drew Brees, Tyler Palko, Erik Ainge
RB:
Deuce McAlister, Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas
FB: Mike Karney, Kevin Dudley
WR1: Marques Colston, David Patten, Jerome Mathis
WR2:
Lance Moore, Devery Hendersen, Robert Meachem
TE: Martellus Bennet, Mark Campbell, Ronnie Ghent
LT: Jammal Brown, Jermon Bushrod
LG: Jacob Bell, Jamar Nesbit, Andy Alleman
C: John Sullivan, Jonathan Goodwin
RG: Jahri Evans, Tim Duckworth
RT: Jon Stinchcomb, Zach Strief

LDE: Jason Taylor, Charles Grant, Josh Savage
DT: Brian Young, Antwan Lake
DT: Pat Sims, Hollis Thomas, Kendrick Clancy
RDE: Will Smith, Mike Rucker, Josh Cooper
SLB: Scott Fujita, Boss Bailey, Mark Simoneau
MLB: Jonathan Vilma, Dan Morgan, Marvin Mitchell
WLB: Lance Briggs, Scott Shanle, Troy Evans
LCB: Mike McKenzie, Tracy Porter, Jason Craft, Usama Young
RCB: Reggie Smith, Aaron Glenn, Jason David, Anwar Phillips
NCB: Tracy Porter, Jack Williams
FS: Quintin Demps, Reggie Smith, Josh Bullocks, Kevin Kaeshivarn
SS: Roman Harper, Mike Doss, Chris Reis

K: Martin Grammatica
P: Steve Weatherford
KR: Jerome Mathis, Tracy Porter, Reggie Smith
PR:
Jerome Mathis, Tracy Porter, Reggie Smith


Whew. So, how do you think I did Saints fans? Did I represent your team well in the draft, or did I tank the whole offseason? Did I make your team better or worse? Throw your opinions at me.
 
I'll take it! I wish it did happen that way, but good job anyways.
 
The draft was ok, but trading for Jason Taylor? Also, no reason to bring in Boss Bailey. Why trade for Taylor when you have Grant and Smith and you signed Mike Rucker. The only way those moves would have made sense would have been if you traded Will Smith afterwards. Now you have a ton of money tied up in the DE position at the expense of a first round pick. That was silly.
 
The draft was ok, but trading for Jason Taylor? Also, no reason to bring in Boss Bailey. Why trade for Taylor when you have Grant and Smith and you signed Mike Rucker. The only way those moves would have made sense would have been if you traded Will Smith afterwards. Now you have a ton of money tied up in the DE position at the expense of a first round pick. That was silly.


Keep in mind that this is still just a mock game, without the real life implications of contracts and stuff. The only money thing we had to worry about was a set cap limit in signing FAs.

To be honest, I didn't think any player was worth the #10 pick. I would have done it for just the draft picks; getting Jason Taylor was just gravy.
 
We no longer allow players by the name john sullivan to play for the Saints...
 
I like it a lot. No glaring holes that I see. You could theoretically push Grant inside over Brian Young to have him, Smith, and Taylor all playing together, which would be monstrous, pushing for the best defensive line on paper. That's an incredible roster, though I'm surprised you managed to stay under the cap. I would think if this was a multi-year type game we would be in some deep ****, but shoot, it's been 40+ years for us and no rings, so why not go all in with this little game.
 
I like it a lot. No glaring holes that I see. You could theoretically push Grant inside over Brian Young to have him, Smith, and Taylor all playing together, which would be monstrous. That's an incredible roster, though I'm surprised you managed to stay under the cap. I would think if this was a multi-year type game we would be in some deep ****, but shoot, it's been 40+ years for us and no rings, so why not go all in with this little game.

How the cap thing worked was just every team got 12 million to spend on free agents/resigning players. That was pretty much it, I allocated about 9 million to Lance Briggs in order to beat all the competition.
 
How the cap thing worked was just every team got 12 million to spend on free agents/resigning players. That was pretty much it, I allocated about 9 million to Lance Briggs in order to beat all the competition.

Interesting. Do trades factor into the cap at all for this. I'm guessing not since Vilma and Taylor would bring on some hefty salaries. Considering the rules of the game, I think you did very well. Hell, our backup LBs on this fantasy team might even be better than our starters last year.:hihi:
 
Interesting. Do trades factor into the cap at all for this. I'm guessing not since Vilma and Taylor would bring on some hefty salaries. Considering the rules of the game, I think you did very well. Hell, our backup LBs on this fantasy team might even be better than our starters last year.:hihi:


Nope, trades weren't factored in. It was pretty much like the non-expert draft game thing going on here, but we had free agency included as well.
 
You did a pretty nice job, but I'm sorry, this one move disqualifies you and earns you a big loud loser buzzer:

Round 5 Pick 138: John Sullivan, OC, Notre Dame.

I don't care what he's rated, as a Saints fan, you absolutely cannot draft a guy named John Sullivan. :hihi:






Seriously, I do like signing Boss Bailey, wish the Saints had done so. I like a few of your free agents, but I don't much understand trading for Jason Taylor, though the extra draft picks are nice, I suppose. And if it were me, I'd have given them my 2nd round pick for Dorsey. He's worth it. Where the Saints need big help is at DT and getting an overload of excellent DEs doesn't do much to change the problem. Coach Payton has stated repeatedly that there are no plans to move either Charles or Will to fulltime DT.
Pretty good job overall, though. must have been fun.
 
You did a pretty nice job, but I'm sorry, this one move disqualifies you and earns you a big loud loser buzzer:

Round 5 Pick 138: John Sullivan, OC, Notre Dame.

I don't care what he's rated, as a Saints fan, you absolutely cannot draft a guy named John Sullivan. :hihi:






Seriously, I do like signing Boss Bailey, wish the Saints had done so. I like a few of your free agents, but I don't much understand trading for Jason Taylor, though the extra draft picks are nice, I suppose. And if it were me, I'd have given them my 2nd round pick for Dorsey. He's worth it. Where the Saints need big help is at DT and getting an overload of excellent DEs doesn't do much to change the problem. Coach Payton has stated repeatedly that there are no plans to move either Charles or Will to fulltime DT.
Pretty good job overall, though. must have been fun.


You can never have enough pass rushers right? I don't think the Giants complained about having 3 premium DEs on their roster :ezbill:.

At the time Dorsey still had his medical concerns and whatnot...and I thought the Saints would have a solid enough Line without using the 10th overall. I did get Pat Sims later on, and I think Reggie Smith + Pat Sims + Tracy Porter + Jason Taylor + Quintin Demps (these are the players that would have been given up to get Dorsey) would net a bigger overall impact than Glenn Dorsey.
 
I like the upgrades to defense, but you only have three RBs. What are you going to do when bush and deuce are getting pushed around in a wheel chair by the third running back half way through the season?

Our WR's definitely aren't in the same league as the Patriot's receiving core last year that got them to the super bowl, but couldn't win it. Therefore we have to be able to have a balanced attack. I don't see this as being a SB team, sorry.

Defense will be much better at least, but a bunch of 3 and outs will kill the season as we won't be able to move the chains after we lose our RB's to injury.
 
You can never have enough pass rushers right? I don't think the Giants complained about having 3 premium DEs on their roster :ezbill:.

At the time Dorsey still had his medical concerns and whatnot...and I thought the Saints would have a solid enough Line without using the 10th overall. I did get Pat Sims later on, and I think Reggie Smith + Pat Sims + Tracy Porter + Jason Taylor + Quintin Demps (these are the players that would have been given up to get Dorsey) would net a bigger overall impact than Glenn Dorsey.
Only Chuck Norris would have a greater overall net impact. :hihi:
 
I like the upgrades to defense, but you only have three RBs. What are you going to do when bush and deuce are getting pushed around in a wheel chair by the third running back half way through the season?

Our WR's definitely aren't in the same league as the Patriot's receiving core last year that got them to the super bowl, but couldn't win it. Therefore we have to be able to have a balanced attack. I don't see this as being a SB team, sorry.

Defense will be much better at least, but a bunch of 3 and outs will kill the season as we won't be able to move the chains after we lose our RB's to injury.


Umm...if you weren't aware, drafting a RB is kind of a waste. I'm not a Saints fan, and even I know the Saints cut the RB they drafted in the 4th round last year before the season even began.

If you prepare for a draft by automatically assuming your #2 overall pick a few years ago is gonna get injured, you're a pretty ****** GM. And saying NO's offense sucks is a bit of a stretch. You guys didn't suffer through a bunch of 3-and-outs last year or the year before, so why would that start now?

You make it sound like you can't win without an offense better than NE's. Defense wins championships, baby (actually, your NE example is perfect...the best offense in NFL history being trumped by the defense).
 
Umm...if you weren't aware, drafting a RB is kind of a waste. I'm not a Saints fan, and even I know the Saints cut the RB they drafted in the 4th round last year before the season even began.

If you prepare for a draft by automatically assuming your #2 overall pick a few years ago is gonna get injured, you're a pretty ****** GM. And saying NO's offense sucks is a bit of a stretch. You guys didn't suffer through a bunch of 3-and-outs last year or the year before, so why would that start now?

You make it sound like you can't win without an offense better than NE's. Defense wins championships, baby (actually, your NE example is perfect...the best offense in NFL history being trumped by the defense).

I never said to "draft" a RB. I would have been perfectly happy going after Turner. I thought he did well, I just don't think that particular team is super bowl worthy.

And judging by his list at RB's, then Stecker isn't there (and Stecker was there last year but even then we didn't make the playoffs.) The year before, Deuce had a great year... and where did we end up? coincidence?

I didn't mean to make it sound like we need an offense greater than NE's. I was just trying to point out that we need a running game to keep our offense going. You can't just pass all the time, even if you have the best receiving core practically in the history of the game (which we don't.)

I think it's a good team, but not super bowl great. Judging by the poll, most people on this thread agree.
 

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