2008 Saints Mock Draft [1/4/2008] (1 Viewer)

[Conrad]

2008 Saints Offseason
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</o> Free Agents
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LB Lance Briggs [<st1:city><st1>Chicago</st1></st1:city> 5 years 45 million/ 20guarnteed.
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He is the impact player that the Saints need at the LB spot.
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CB Drayton Florence [<st1:city><st1>San Diego</st1></st1:city>] 5 years 31 million/ 13 guaranteed
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A solid starting CB that can pair with McKenzie or Young pushing David to the
nickel role.
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Extensions:
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WR Marques Colston [6 years 42 million/ 22 guaranteed]
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OG Jahri Evans [5 years 35 million/ 15 guaranteed]
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DT DeWayne Robertson [5 years 28 million/ 12 guaranteed]
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Trades
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The New Orleans Saints trade 4[110] and 6[2009] to the New York Jets for DT DeWayne Robertson.
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Draft
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1[10] S Kenny Phillips* [<st1:city><st1>Miami</st1></st1:city>]
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The Saints secondary is bad and <st1:city><st1>Florence</st1></st1:city> adds to the depth at CB making FS the biggest need. Bullocks was awful last year and gave up as many big plays as Jason David. Phillips is a Sean Taylor [RIP] or Ed Reed type safety that can play the deep middle while Roman Harper is aggressive at the line of scrimmage.
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2[42] LB Jonathan Goff [Vanderbilt]
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Goff has the size [6’2” 245lbs.] and the intensity that the Saints have not had a MLB in a long time. He might not be flashy, but he makes tackles and will mix it up at the point of attack. A starting unit of Fujita, Goff and Briggs is a huge improvement.<o></o>

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3[74] OG Brandon Albert [<st1:state><st1>Virginia</st1></st1:state>]
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The offensive line this year was solid in pass protection but was abused in the running game. The Saints are weak at LG and RT and Albert has the size [6’7” 320lbs.] to play either RT or LG and he is a physical player.
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5. TE Joe John Finley [OU]
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A decent receiver with great size and room to develop.
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</o>6. DE Bryan Mattison [<st1:state><st1>lace>Iowa</st1>lace></st1:state>]
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<st1:state><st1>Iowa</st1></st1:state> produces hard working hustle pass rushers that the Saints could use on 3^rd downs.
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7. CB Terrel Vinson [Purdue]
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Undersized but fast and could compete for a roster spot.

 

[Archie_4_HOF]

Yeah and monkeys will fly out of my .........

Sounds nice but it won't happen.

 

[scott88]

That would be a dream come true

 

[The_Burning_Bush]

 

[jojo223]

And why aren't you in the front office. This is a nice offseason. I just wish we could go after Samuels or Trufant.

 

[donato]

I would obviously be very happy with that. How could you not? We'd be right at the cap though, leaving our options limited in resigning Will Smith and/or Jamaal Brown in the near future.

 

[unome_brother]

love it all except for the 3rd and 4th i'd go for a quality corner.

 

[zorro37]

That is probably the best offseason we can have and fit under the cap I think.
Briggs would be absolutely huge, and Chicago is planning for life without him.
He will not even consider New Orleans initially though, I don't think, so we will need to get him on the phone, and show him the money, bigtime.

The draft is solid, we would get a starter at guard, safety, middle linebacker, and tight end out of it. I am also very high on Purdue's corner, as I am with a lot of Purdue players as they are probably my 2nd team behind LSU and I have seen them quite a bit this year. IMHO, he would beat our Jason Craft, Fred Thomas and Jason David. He would probably push Usama. I would love him, WR Dorien Bryant or Dustin Keller, who is a great TE. Bryant and Keller may still be around in the 4th, and Vinson would be there in 6, 7, or may even go undrafted.

I honestly think we have to look to the future, and see the big contracts the likes of Will Smith will command soon. I don't think our front office will be in favour of pushing right at the cap limit. Guys like Drayton Florence would be fine, but if Lance Briggs has a bidding war begin, I want us out of there, moving on to the next best guy.

 

[babyblack94]

Free Agents
1-Lance Briggs(Defense)
2-Alan Feneca(Offense)

Draft
1st-James Laraunitis(MLB-Ohio State)
2nd-Mike Jenkins,Malcolm Jenkins, or Brandon Flowers(Cornerbacks)
3rd-Frank Okam(DT-TEXAS)
4th-Adarius Bowman(WR-OKLAHOMA STATE)
5th-Matt Forte(RB-Tulane)
6th-Quentin Demps(S-Texas El-Paso)
7th-Brandon Coutu(K-Georgia)

 

[jerryrip]

Free Agents
1-Lance Briggs(Defense)
2-Alan Feneca(Offense)

Draft
1st-James Laraunitis(MLB-Ohio State)
2nd-Mike Jenkins,Malcolm Jenkins, or Brandon Flowers(Cornerbacks)
3rd-Frank Okam(DT-TEXAS)
4th-Adarius Bowman(WR-OKLAHOMA STATE)
5th-Matt Forte(RB-Tulane)
6th-Quentin Demps(S-Texas El-Paso)
7th-Brandon Coutu(K-Georgia)

Add Asante Samuel to that free agent list and drop the corners from the #2 draft spot. Get a DT from that pick, then maybe a safety or corner in the 3rd.

 

[BlackReign]

i really like your style!! although i think we should give Colston more money than Briggs....

 

[dome patrol]

So per year we're looking at:

Briggs 9M
FLorence 6M
Colston 7M
Robertson 5M
Evans 7M

Oh ****....we just spent 34 million dollars of our roughly 30 million dollars in available cap space on 5 players.


Thank god we have Micky Loomis.

ps- Sorry Kenny Phillips, we couldn't fit you in the budget after FA came around.:dunno:

 

[dome patrol]

And please don't come at me with "the base salaries are low in the first year of their contract!!"

Okay, so say we save 8 million after signing those players. We still have to allot money to the rookie pool as well as fill in roster spots including many starting positions. Who's snapping the ball to Brees- Kevin Houser? Is Colston going to run one-man routes? Payton can also cancel about half of training camp because there wouldn't be enough warm bodies under contract to take reps.

Stick to Madden.

 

[REALCHRISM]

I would obviously be very happy with that. How could you not? We'd be right at the cap though, leaving our options limited in resigning Will Smith and/or Jamaal Brown in the near future.

No, we would not be right at the cap. There is a tendency around here to think that if you sign one or two big time players that pushes you up against the cap. It does not. It all depends on the length of the deals and how they set up. Even more, it depends on the true value of the deal. Take Nate Clements deal. While it seems his deal is 8 years, $80 million, the true value of the deal is more like 5 years $45 million. That's still pretty high in terms of per year average, but not nearly the near $12 million Clements would average in the final three years of the deal. Mickey Loomis has always done a great job of managing the cap. I could see the Saints signing Briggs and a big-time cornerback and still having room to extend their own players while bringing in some mid-tier FAs. Because the Saints have over $30 million, you are likely to see a lot of the deals get frontloaded. That would do two things: first, it would entice FAs who want to be immediately paid. Second, it would help us to manage our cap with greater ease in the coming seasons.

One thing the Saints might want to consider doing is reaching an injury settlement with Mike McKenzie. McKenzie is not likely to be back until LATE next season, if at all. If he does not play much next season, then you're looking at 2009 before he can contribute. At that point, he'll be 33 and the question will be can he contribute at a high level given his salary? It's unfortunate because I like Mike and believe him to be a solid player. But unless he can come back for next season, the team might find itself hardpressed to keep him around. I think the same sort of philosophy applies to Deuce McAllister in the long run as much as some hate to hear it. While you don't save much for next season, you do save in the coming years when Deuce's salary skyrockets. If you sign some big time free agents and look to extend their contracts, removing Deuce's salary allows you greater room to deal with pending salary jumps, escalators or balloon payments. If Deuce cannot contribute at a high level--and it is difficult to believe at this point he will be after two major knee surgeries--then his deal becomes far too high to justify his spot on this team in lieu of managing your cap and being able to bring in guys who can help the team get to the Superbowl. Again, it hurts to say that because Deuce is such a good guy and, at this point, you wish that he would just retire now as a Saint. But if he continues to press on to play, then the Saints might not be left with no other choice.

The good thing for the Saints is that the cap continues to increase big time each year. So, they do not have to make quick decisions wtih either Mike or Deuce. At the same time, they are able to go out and pursue top flight FAs and not have to worry about exhausting their cap space this year or in future years to come.

 

[CCL36]

I like it- The DL improves, the Saftey combo and LB corp are greatly improved possibly elite, Corner is weak but hey Young could develop, Florence is probably decent and opposing QBs shouldn't be able to camp in the pocket like they did this year.