With the rumor of Harper being included in a deal

NJDevilSaints said
The Saints already turned down a deal including Harper. I doubt they're going to be convinced to give him up in any deal.

If the Saints get Shockey, I think it'll either be for #40 alone, or our third + a 4th or 5th in '09.

I'm pretty sure the team realizes that the secondary needs to add playmakers, not subtract them. Even if Payton loves playmakers on offense.

I find it interesting that most here choose to continue to believe the spin which originated in the "Rumor Mill" section of PFT, based solely on their word that they spoke to an anonymous source "with knowledge of the discussions"... Especially when the reputable news outlets say it was us who revised the offer to include Harper & were turned down, for a second time.

Like most of you I'd prefer the Giants give us Shockey for a 2nd day pick & a role player, or a few middle round picks in 2009. However, no matter how you try to spin the situation even if (and as the Giants have repeatedly denied Shockey even being on the block, that is a big IF) there is actually a trade being discussed... the very fact that we contacted them regarding his availability means the Giants are the ones dealing from the position of strength.

Shockey is a 4 time Pro Bowler & is easily one of the 10 best players at his position. Are there injury & character concerns with him? Sure... but unless their managed by idiots, a notion quickly cast aside by a single glance at their new "10 table" championship rings, the Giants aren't going to allow that to come into play during the negotiations. They see his potential value to the Saints & will ask nothing less than equal compensation in exchange for his services.

So it really boils down to how much is he worth to us, exactly. Let's take a look at our current receiving core…

Colsten is a stud, no doubt about it, but after him what do we have really? Patten, though I like his style, is severely miscast as a #2. After 3 full seasons I believe it's safe to say that Devery will never amount to anything more than an occasional deep threat. Meachem going into his second rookie season remains an unknown NFL quantity & neither Eric Johnson or Billy Miller even rank among the "Top 20" TE's in the league. Not to mention Reggie's paltry 5.7 avg. on 73 receptions.

Which clearly shows that we currently lack a viable 2nd receiving option... enter Jeremy Shockey.

Yes he is known to sometimes drop catchable passes, that said, he still would immediately give Brees an invaluable intermediate target & would force opposing defenses to account for his presence, preventing them from simply overloading on Colsten.

As for other benefits, after watching our TE's get overpowered at the POA last season I'm not even going to get into how much his "better than advertised" blocking ability improves our running game… Not to mention that when Horn and his swagger left town, our offensive personality went with him. We have some great skill players in Brees & Colsten, etc... but we no longer have on our roster that single dominant personality, which can energize an entire offense through intensity & sheer intimidation, like Shockey can.

To me Shockeys value to our team, exceeds that of a 2nd round pick and an unproven, albeit promising young Safety in Roman Harper. I know some of you will find reasons by which to take exception with my characterization of Harper but, as the adage goes, it's easy to look good on a bad team. Which is exactly what we were defensively last season.

Let's not forget that it was non other than our potential trade partner, these same NYG, who dispelled the notion that you need a great or even good secondary in order to win come the playoffs. They've shown that in today's NFL with the governing passing rules such as they are, getting consistent pressure on the QB & limiting his time to progress through his reads, is much more important than any backfield of all-pros.

This off-season we've brought in Dan Morgan (Now if he can just stay healthy...) & Jonathon Vilma to team with Fujita, Shanle & Simoneau in forming a extremely solid LB core & we still have two of the top pass rushers in the game with Grant & Smith. They, combined with Thomas, Young & Clancy give us (at least on paper) one of the better front sevens in the NFL.

Now IMO - we need to turn our attention to bringing in Shockey to shore up our offensive shortcomings, even if it means giving up talent & a 1st day pick in order to get him.