What's sad about all this is that we could lose Vilma because of the Shockey trade.
Think about it. The Shockey trade means the 2nd round pick goes to the Giants. We can't sign Vilma before free agency because that would elevate the Vilma pick from third to second, and thus push the Shockey pick to the first round.
The bottom line is that if there were no Shockey trade, the Saints could have locked Vilma up for a second round pick. I would do that, rather than risk seeing him go. But we can't afford to give up a first for Vilma, so we have to go through all this.
Now, I think Shockey is a good player, and I think he'll be a contributor, but if I have to choose between Vilma and Shockey, I want Vilma. We can do OK with the TEs we have. Without Vilma our defense is dead meat.
We paid too much for Shockey, and now it might cost us Vilma. Worse, even if Vilma goes we still have to give up a 3rd rounder for him, which means we paid a third round pick to get one player for one year -- and didn't make the playoffs.
I know I sound pessimistic, but these kinds of screwups are the kinds of mistakes that haunt teams for years. If we lose Vilma we're going to be sorry.