Competing offers for Armstead
I think he wants to stay in New Orleans but is torn b/c he can get alot of $$ too and this will be his last time to do so.
I agree. Armstead has never talked about money; never complained about his contract, or the Saints organization; and has publically stated he hasn't ruled out returning to the Saints "if the money was right."
Without using the words, I've heard him say "I'd really like to stay here, but I need to be paid enough to do that." And he doesn't know what that $$$ looks like for a 30-yr old LT who is oft-injured, but dominating when available. Only 1 way to find out. I'm sure he and the Dolphins have talked $$$, and I'll bet the Dolphins get the sense he'd like to stay in NO. But now he's got a number to return to NO and he can say "can we get in this ballpark of compensation, without me up-ending my life to leave, and without you rolling the dice on a replacement LT?" His actions are consistent with his words, IMO. We'll either give him a competitive offer and he'll stay; or we won't (in his eyes) and he'll move on.
I'm torn on Armstead. He's one of the best (perhaps THE best) LTs in the game, when healthy, and has been the commensurate team player. He routinely stifles every top EDGE rusher he faces....just flat-out stonewalls them. But he's never played a 16 game season over his entire career. I could forgive that, but he's parked next to Peat on the line. Problem with that is Peat is his backup LT, but probably even less durable than Armstead. And because of these 2, our line isn't plug-n-play with backup OL, but re-shuffled. This means our entire left side is constantly at risk of re-shuffling the entire front. The best OLs are the result of continuity. And I think that's what is keeping the Saints OL from being great. We have a good to very good line. If it remained mostly intact for the entire season (everyone misses a start, here & there), they'd be a great line.
If we didn't have Peat, I'd be more inclined to keep Armstead. If we had a backup LT that was better than Peat, I'd like to keep Armstead. But one of these 2, or possibly both, need to be replaced with more durable talent, even if its a step below in talent level. I guess it all boils down to whether the Saints believe they have Armstead's replacement in-house (move Ram?). You don't let LTs of Armstead's caliber walk, hoping to find a replacement; you let 'em walk because you already have the replacement. And if you look at the history of the Saints, that's exactly what they've always done. Whether they've found 'em, or developed 'em, we've always had a top notch LT in the pipeline.