Free Agency next year - what do we do? (1 Viewer)

[baarbogast]

RE-SIGN
Drew Brees - He will cost $16M in dead money. I would like to keep him one more year just so he can have the records Brady and Manning own.


Teddy Bridgewater I would like to keep him. He is better than the 97th pick in the 21 draft and has been proven to keep the team on an even keel. We spent $32-33M on QBs this year, roughly the same has teams spent on one highly regarded QB.


A.J. Klein -I think he is an easy re-sign as not many teams throw crazy dollars at 30 y/o LBs.

Eli Apple- I think he is a relatively easy re-sign as both he and his mother seem to really like NO. There is also the perception about his time in NY being what you are signing.

Andrus Peat - I want to keep our starting LG and back up LT. This one could be dicey to retain and there is no guarantee that an Alex Leatherwood or Sam Kindley will be available in the draft. There is also no guarantee they won't bust. I say keep the known.


P.J. Williams - I like him in the slot and he is also young.

Zach Line - Keep the FB

Vonn Bell - Another Keeper in the secondary

Dave Onyemata - Keep as he and Rankins are a formidable front

Dwayne Washington- 3rd RB and special teamer, should be an easy re-sign.

Taysom Hill - Keep just for the different packages he can be put in.
-
Keith Kirkwood- He is an OK wr, maybe he makes the leap to being above average.

Zach Wood - Keep a steady LS






LET COMPETE
John Bademosi
Patrick Omameh
Steph Anthony
Josh Martin -
Justin Hardee
Cameron Tom -
Krishaw Hogan
J.T. Gray
Dan Arnold
Austin Carr


According to overthecap.com, at the start of FA we are projected to be $19,535,304/M under the cap, with 41 players under contract, and 23 free agents.


POTENTIAL FAs
Amari Cooper WR- HIghly unlikely due to cost and I doubt he wants to be second fiddle to Thomas.


Robby Anderson WR- I think off field concerns will dissuade Loomis. Going by the stories/links on the panthers board he isn't a mature dude.


Hunter Henry TE-- This is a surprise signing. I think he would do well here and he is 7 years younger than Cook.


A’shawn Robinson DT-- A potential space eater to give Brown a rest or to put in with Brown at the Goal line.


Potential cap savings:
Cook-$5/m
Robinson- $3.6/M
Anzalone-$890/K
Griffin- $660/K
Arnold- $660/K
Hansen- $583,332

After the cuts, we will have 35 players under contract with $30,897,636/M in cap space. If we take care of our own and the 5 draft selections. I believe that is our off-season. I believe 24 Jan is when the declared underclassmen list is distributed and that may have an effect on the plan.

 

[YorkshireSaint]

I can see someone getting traded. We’ve given up a lot of draft capital in the last 3 drafts to get the guys we’ve wanted. But now some of our best players are due contracts and unfortunately with the salary cap we’re going to struggle to pay everyone.

 

[ThrowbackSaintXXL]

I can see someone getting traded. We’ve given up a lot of draft capital in the last 3 drafts to get the guys we’ve wanted. But now some of our best players are due contracts and unfortunately with the salary cap we’re going to struggle to pay everyone.

Rankins would be an option for trade if they re-sign Onyemata

 

[Snakehead]

Rankins would be an option for trade if they re-sign Onyemata

I also believe that Rankins might be traded.

The FO also has a huge decision on Kamara.

 

[YorkshireSaint]

I’d be open to trading Rankins as since his Achilles injury Onyemata has been playing better. Unfortunately the injury would have reduced his trade value and I’d say we might be able to get a late 2nd or 3rd round pick for him.

For Kamara I think we’d get something similar to what we got for Cooks (1st and a 3rd for our 4th and Cooks) and I think we’ll take it as Kamara will tightly be demanding similar money to Zeke which will be difficult for us to finance as he’ll be behind Lattimore and Ramcyzk in terms of who we’ll pay money solely because of his position.

As others have been said it’s a massive decision for the front office on what to do with Kamara.

But if those trades happened we’d be left with 2 1sts 1 2nd 2 3rds which is similar to the 2017 draft which turned the franchise around

 

[ThrowbackSaintXXL]

Sorry but the only massive decision I'm interested in with Kamara is how much do we pay him for his services. Vehemently opposed to trading that man away. Don't care what we'd get for him. I'd rather let Drew walk


Seriously

 

[67Saint]

I don’t think we can afford to let Teddy go. We all love Drew, but we have to be realistic about his age and that is closer to retirement than not. We have to plan for the post-Drew future.

We know Teddy can plug right in and win right now. He went 5-0 in his starts. And that is gold in a starting NFL QB. The locker room and coaches love him and will rally behind him as a leader. He is a very accurate passer with low INT count. He thrives in a system that is run oriented - check, has a good defense- check and good O line - check, where can manage the game with his short to medium passing. it doesn’t light up scoreboards typically, but it wins games. And it wins close, low scoring defensive slugfests like we’re going to see in the playoffs

so what are our alternatives to a proven NFL starter?

Hill I’m not sold on as a QB yet. I know Payton is high on his potential , but he hasn’t proven he can run the QB position at a high level. I like what he brings to the table, but Bridgewater is a more proven commodity

Draft a QB? That’s hit and miss. Baker Mayfield was unanimous #1, Sam Darnold, and Josh Rosen were all taken before Lamar Jackson who went at 32. That just looks ridiculous. Statistically you are more likely to get a bust in the draft than the next big thing . And why draft a QB when we could just keep Teddy and use our picks on other needs?

So where does that leave us with Teddy and Drew? Teddy is 27, he is a proven winner who understands the system, commands the respect of everyone in the locker room, has overcome a ton of adversity to get here, and will only improve under Payton as time goes on. What we have seen is really good and we haven’t even seen his full potential yet. If he stays healthy he could be our starter for many years, our next franchise QB to follow Drew.

But if both of their contracts are up, and if Drew doesn’t retire then Teddy is poised to get a big deal for someone like Chicago or maybe Carolina or the Bucs or some other team we will face with insider knowledge of our system. And then Drew will retire in another year or two anyway. 5 years from now we wouldn’t have either and would be depending on unproven Taysom Hill and a hit and miss draft pick.

It pains me to say this, but I think signing Teddy needs to take priority over Drew over the summer. It’s the long term future over short term gains. Just my two cents

This is a really good post. We all love Drew and he is the GOAT in Saints history. He is the classic car you want to always have.

Teddy suffers from being the steady Ford in the garage syndrome. Good car, starts every time but it still isn’t the sexy sports car in the showroom (draft) window.

Taysom is like the hot rod. Fun on a Friday night but you don’t want to take it to work everyday. Run on nitrous.

It won’t be like this again in our lives, Saints fans. Look long and hard and store the memories.

Remember when we lead the league in Billy Joes?

 

[bobad]

Andrus Peat - Gone
A.J. Klein - Cheap so doesn't matter
Vonn Bell - Must keep
Eli Apple - Must keep
Drew Brees - Must keep
Teddy Bridgewater - gone
Taysom Hill - 2nd round tender
Austin Carr - irrelevant
Zach Line - Cheap so doesn't matter
Zach Wood - Cheap so doesn't matter
Onyemata - Really want to keep

Think you nailed it. I hope Loomis does whatever it takes to keep your "Must Keep" players, which should also include Onyemata.

Looking at this group, we need to draft an OL, a QB, and a LB, and pick up duplicates in UDFA.

 

[Saint Taysom]

When Kamara decides he needs his $$$, whether that be when his rookie contract expires, or next offseason... his days with the Saints are numbered. He’s a fantastic talent, but he’s not worth crazy money... the Saints have already seen that they can win w/out him.

 

[bobad]

When Kamara decides he needs his $$$, whether that be when his rookie contract expires, or next offseason... his days with the Saints are numbered. He’s a fantastic talent, but he’s not worth crazy money... the Saints have already seen that they can win w/out him.

I thought it was the end of the world when we lost Jimmy and Ingram, but we get by. You just can't pay everyone, so you pay the rarest of the rare... great OL, DL, Franchise QB, and very special players like Mike.

 

[Saint Taysom]

I thought it was the end of the world when we lost Jimmy and Ingram, but we get by. You just can't pay everyone, so you pay the rarest of the rare... great OL, DL, Franchise QB, and very special players like Mike.

As great as AK41 is (and at 100% health he’s AWESOME) he’s still a RB, and RBs are one of the most replaceable positions on any team.
Great teams keep their OL and DL top-notch... that’s where games are won and lost

 

[ThrowbackSaintXXL]

When Kamara decides he needs his $$$, whether that be when his rookie contract expires, or next offseason... his days with the Saints are numbered. He’s a fantastic talent, but he’s not worth crazy money... the Saints have already seen that they can win w/out him.

Well if he's not worth crazy $ then it shouldn't be too difficult to retain him. Let the market set his value n offer a fair amount after that

We may have won a few games without him but that doesn't mean he's not integral to our longterm success when healthy

 

[Saint Taysom]

Well if he's not worth crazy $ then it shouldn't be too difficult to retain him. Let the market set his value n offer a fair amount after that

We may have won a few games without him but that doesn't mean he's not integral to our longterm success when healthy

The market has been set by Zeke, Gurley, Bell, and Johnson. When AK41 decides to get his, he’s going to be looking in the $15M per season range. CMC is going to be right there with too, so whoever signs first will set things up for the other.

IMHO, that’s too much $ to tie up in a RB. Gurley is already no longer himself and is breaking down... Bell isn’t worth his $$... and David Johnson has lost his featured role to Kenyan Drake.

 

[Colstonbaby]

Andrus Peat
A.J. Klein
Vonn Bell
Eli Apple
Drew Brees
Teddy Bridgewater
Taysom Hill
Austin Carr
Zach Line
Zach Wood

This is a list - the closest I could come to the complete list - of our Free Agents next year.

All 3 of our QB's are Free Agents. 2 of our best DB's are Free Agents. Plus, our Pro-Bowl left Guard.

Now, I know that Mickey Loomis has a way of working these things out, but I can't remember a time when our Free-Agent list looked like this.

There is no way we will be able to re-sign all 3 QB's next year. TB is going to command top dollar from someone, and will also be offered a starting gig somewhere else. Drew is gonna want to keep playing, and there is no way that Payton will opt for Teddy over Drew. He will know that he can win with Teddy, but also that he can't run his wide open offense with him. He is simply not that type of QB, as we all saw. You need a great running game and defense to win with him.

Then, the question is what to do with Bell and Apple? Can we resign both of these guys? Will our brain trust consider that Sequan Hampton can replace Bell, so therefore give more priority to re-signing Apple over Bell?

I know we are still in the season, but this is something to look at. We will also have free-agents from other teams to look at, as well as the Draft. Problem there is that we don't have all of our draft picks next year to help reload.

I think we will be OK at Guard if we lose Peat. Easton so far has looked really good, and Clapp can always fill in. Plus, as we've seen, you can always find a very good O-Lineman in the later rounds of the Draft. Heck, Jahri Evans was a 3rd round pick. Clapp and Strief were both late round picks. So, we know that can be done.

So the question is, who on this list to we go all out for to re-sign? Other than Drew Brees, who I believe will be top priority.

I think the how far we go this year may influence things next year
If we make it to the SB, I can see DB taking a pretty decent cut to see if TB can be fit in ..Loomis will structure a back end loaded deal with decent guaranteed money.
Unless there is some QB in the draft that SP really likes.

If we win the SB, I think DB will really consider hanging it up. Then TB becomes a real possibility.

Any money spent next year will have a big shadow hanging above it: AK and ML need to be factored in. RR as well.

2021 will be a good year if we have kept TB, MT, AK, another WR, a decent TE , T smith and Taysome on the Off side
And Marshon, Bell, Jordan, Rankins Demario and possibly Onyemata on the D

 

[ThrowbackSaintXXL]

The market has been set by Zeke, Gurley, Bell, and Johnson. When AK41 decides to get his, he’s going to be looking in the $15M per season range. CMC is going to be right there with too, so whoever signs first will set things up for the other.

IMHO, that’s too much $ to tie up in a RB. Gurley is already no longer himself and is breaking down... Bell isn’t worth his $$... and David Johnson has lost his featured role to Kenyan Drake.

U keep calling him an RB, comparing him to others "RB's"

The thing is he's more than just an RB. He's that, plus a WR, plus a returner n can play them all @ a high level. He's Reggie Bush upgraded. So whatever Bell isn't worth, Kamara is worth that. And we should be the team to pay him

Asmuch as we love Drew. he's no longer a longterm option. AK41 is. And alot of dilemmas will be solved when Drew's cap # is off the books