All-Pro CB Charvarius Ward thought he was going to the Saints before Colts offered more $ at the last minute

WhoDat?DrewDat said
Good news.

He's a great player but we are far away from competing and shouldn't be handing out massive contracts at this point.

Yiadom at his contract is much much better for where we are at

This is where I'm at as well when it comes to the cornerback action this week.

Ward is pretty much a local to our fan base. He's from the McComb, Miss. area, I believe. Played juco ball at Hinds CC, near Jackson. Coming to the Saints would've basically been a homecoming. And I give credit to Loomis (!) et al for pursuing him. But any time someone calls THEMSELVES great, I have to wonder about that person's ego.

livefromDC said
I'm cool with it. It happens. Reminds me of 2009. The Saints were chasing Ron Bartell. He eventually picked the Rams over the Saints. The Saints quickly switched course and signed a free agent CB from Buffalo...Jabari Greer.

Sometimes your misses lead to better things.

Related to that dynamic, we were also chasing Gerald Sensabaugh at safety that same offseason. While Sensabaugh would've been a solid-enough signing, we ended up getting Sharper instead, who caught lightning in a bottle at that position and made all the difference in the world for a defense that overall was ranked only 25th in the league. (of course, that's always in terms of yards allowed, which isn't really the best metric for a defense).