King: Saints Paid Price For Mare (2 Viewers)

[Jonesy77]

sorry to threadjack here, but how old is Mare?

 

[Taceo]

Redskins shoulda traded that #6 pick with Miami because as we all know the Saints picked Johnathan Sullivan in 2003 with that pick so its pretty much a terrible place to be drafting.

Hyperbole goes both ways.

 

[Blue]

So King doesn't like the Mare deal. So what? He bought season tickets last year to support the Saints in hope that they would stay in NOLA. And I believe, gave them to local charity. All that matters is that we are happy with the deal. Whether we or he is right won't be known till we play the season.

 

[SaintStephen]

This, on the other hand, is a pretty self-important post.

Peter King, after visiting post-Katrina New Orleans, was one of the city's biggest supporters. Consistently and repeatedly. I'll always cut the guy plenty of slack because of that.

Touche. I didn't have access to his column at the time of Katrina, but I will admit that he is a N.O. supporter and for that I'm thankful. I'm just tired of having sportswriters/magazine contributors in general judging what is right and wrong. I feel like that's what we get in todays ESPN world. I like the coverage of the actual sport, but not the coverage of the personalities.

 

[LtAldoRaine]

Some of you amaze me.

It's a 6th round pick that allows us to carry 1 kicker instead of having 2 roster spots taken. He leads the league in touchbacks, something we clearly can use seeing as many times the other team started at the 30 or farther, and he is a pro-bowl kicker who will thrive in the Dome.

But whatever, we could have definitely drafted a better kicker with the 6th round pick, right?

 

[Guitarzan]

Saints defensive ranking for 2007? #1

dream it, will it

 

[Super Dave]

I don't really have any issue with what King wrote, and like someone else wrote, the "Tom Brady with pick 199" was mainly for shock value. Of course, over the past 7 years, there have been some not-so-future-Hall-of-Famers at 199 also:

Khari Long (2005)
Clarence Moore (2004)
Willie Ponder (2003)
Adam Haayer (2001)
Antico Dalton (1999)

Hey I recognize some of those guys, one is a Car salesman, one the bag boy at Super 1, and that other guy sells TV's at Best Buy... seriously, anybody want to do a research project on how many 6th rounders stay in the league... more than one or two years... for instance, when Brady was picked who in that same round is still in the league?

BTW, this is busy work since the off-season is progressing like a slow snail on morphine.

 

[st. fan]

eh, that article doesn't really bother me. I agree the Brady reference was for shock value, but there just aren't that many sixth round picks that are starters period. I posted this on the Mare thread before:
Players Drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth round since 2000
2006
josh lay DB, mike hass WR
2005
jason jefferson DT
2004
no sixth round pick
2003
kareem kelly WR
2002
john gilmore TE, jt osullivan QB
2001
mitch white T
2000
michael hawthorne FS, sherrod gideon WR

as you can see, none of these guys are starting in the league, few are even on active rosters, so I'll take a proven kicker in a trade for a camp body any day.

Granted, this is just the Saints recent history, but I would bet it's fairly representative of the rest of the league.

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

I'm not a big King fan and sixth-round picks are hit and miss. But why trade for a kicker? Mare had a bad year last year, which is why he was expendable. And he's a kicker. You shouldn't ever give up anything to sign kickers and punters, unless you're acquiring someone like Adam Vinatieri in his prime. Otherwise, you pick them up as free agents.

That philosophy can and has backfired. Chip Lohmiller (sp?) comes to mind. And Jerry Jones abides by that thinking and it has been hit and miss for him. Having a dependable kicker is very important. Having one that can also kickoff into the endzone is lagniappe.

 

[ClubLevelPete]

King's on the money regarding trading down from a top-10 pick. If ever there was a scenario that a team would be able to get good value trading down it was the Saints last season sitting at #2, with the obvious choice (Bush) being a player who played just about the only position that we DIDN'T need help at.

From what we've heard the Saints didn't get a legitimate offer for Reggie Bush, one of the most hyped prospects in NFL history.

 

[ClubLevelPete]

I also agree 100% with what King says about the ridiciulous draft trade value chart.

Who the heck died and made this chart gospel? Give me a break. Every trade is subjective and cannot be quantified by some dopey chart.

 

[st.randy]

I remember someone (not King) saying that the Saints made a mistake in drafting Colston when Anwar Philips was available in the seventh round. In fact it was listed by the Saints last three picks last draft. All of this was printed AFTER the saints picked up Anwar as a rookie free agent.

My point.....opinions are fine, but they are just that.....opinions. People thought the Saints got a washed up kicker in Carney six years ago........Mare seems to me like the same acquisition all over again.

 

[st.randy]

I'm not a big King fan and sixth-round picks are hit and miss. But why trade for a kicker? Mare had a bad year last year, which is why he was expendable. And he's a kicker. You shouldn't ever give up anything to sign kickers and punters, unless you're acquiring someone like Adam Vinatieri in his prime. Otherwise, you pick them up as free agents.

I agree with your thinking if you have a team that is trying to become competitive........but if you have a team that is looking back at an outdoor NFC championship game and wishing they had a better kicker. I agree with the trade. I wouldn't want the Saints to wake up in the same scenario again next year and have to rely on a rookie free agent kicker or a guy who merely didn't get picked up by another team. We're not building......we're finishing.

 

[Wahoo]

...Mare seems to me like the same acquisition all over again.

Agreed. I made that very point in one of the other Mare threads. It really is almost uncanny how similar their stats were in their final seasons with Miami and San Diego, respectively. The only significant difference was touchbacks (far more in Mare's favor). Their FG %'s were within a couple of tenths of each other. It's like we are getting the Carney of 2000 again, with the added bonus of a stronger leg on kickoffs, plus Mare is 2 years younger than Carney was when we got him. Let's just hope Mare has close to the same success !

 

[play action]

did king just say a reliable fg kicker in the sixth is overpaying, I get the feeling alot of teams would take a reliable kicker in the fourth if they needed one,but hey, maybe thats just me.