Offensive help... we still need it. (1 Viewer)

[Saint Droopy]

For those that still don't believe we need offensive help in the draft... consider this... the Saints finished 4th in offense, but in how many of those games were "junk yards"? We were out of so many games last year to the point where we were passing the 2nd entire half and getting tons of yards.

Speaking of yards... that's how they come up with offensive ranking... by YARDS... but POINTS win games. Saints finished tied for 12th in the NFL in scoring (23.7)... we got outscored by offensive scoring machines like Arizona and J-ville .


We still need:

- a threat at TE... Miller is a solid TE, but he's a #2 at best. Fred Davis in the 2nd would make me real happy... or trade that 2nd to NYG for J-Shock. Yeah he's mental, but he's a ballplayer. Tired of choir boys that can't compete... gimme Shockey's crazy behind.

- a bonafied #2.. I hope Meach is ready... I'm pulling for ya bro... if not... then look for Drew to force balls into Colston all year again. Devery has too many concentration lapses to be taken seriously.

- a RAC threat in the slot... I love Patten... he's got 1 maybe 2 years left in him... but if he gets hurt we're screwed because Lance moore is a catch-and-fall guy. I hope Eddie Royal is around in the mid-rounds.

- a healthy Deuce... even if Deuce isn't ready... Payton got a good look at Steck and PT at the end of the year, and he knows they both can take Deuce's carries, which will put Reggie back into his 2006 role. But I'd still like to see Deuce pounding the rock.

- a real RT... Stinchcomb is strong as an ox, but I get tired of watching Brees run for his life when Stinch lets his guy walk around him. If Glen D and Sedrick Ellis are gone at 10 I wouldn't be at all mad if we take Clady or the kid from Virginia at 10... they are better picks at 10 that reaching for a defensive player.

Just my opinion... as much as folks like to look at that #4 ranking.. you have to remember how we got it. We got alot of those yards in games that we couldn't/didn't win because we had fallen behind early. Lets put an offense on the field that will score TDs... we've spent a ton of FA money on the defense... time to give the offense some help.

 

[yankmccobb76]

I do agree we need a fresh young athlete at TE but not sure this draft is going to produce that player for us. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the offense especially if Deuce returns to anything close to 100%.

I'm all about fixing this defense. Just sick of getting pushed around for so long. I think 2 of the first 3 rounds need to be defense, preferably some combo DT/LB/CB and I wouldn't be disappointed if the first 3 rounds were all defense.

We need young defensive playmakers.

 

[BlackNGoldblood]

Good writeup. However, we finished less than four points per game than second-ranked Dallas. I see your point, but think we can make a more dramatic improvement on this team with the best defensive players, except for DE's, in the early rounds. And our offense was in a major funk at the beginning of the season, which must've really hurt our average, and I think it was more of us shooting ourselves in the foot than what other team D's were doing to us.

And believe me, I hated when fans of one of our ex-players used his yardage to prove how good he was. And that player would be Aaron Brooks.

 

[Deuuuuce]

I would not mind at all if we went Clady in first and Fred Davis in the second....Put Clady at LT and move Brown back to RT and our offense would be far and away the best in the NFC.

 

[obwhiteo]

i'll take the 10th ranked offense, and a 10th ranked defense

over a

4th ranked offense and a 28th ranked defense anyday...

 

[GilFinnerty]

i would like to see us get a young wide out,,i think dj hall be great fit for this offense,,,lot of similar caliber guys from rounds 2-4 at that position..some good tackle prospects to,,hows is bushrod progressing,,payton says they like him the LT spot,,and if he develops put brown back at RT where he is the best in the league

 

[Deuuuuce]

i'll take the 10th ranked offense, and a 10th ranked defense

over a

4th ranked offense and a 28th ranked defense anyday...

I think we've already upgraded our defense with the additions of Vilma, Gay, Morgan, and McCray. I don't see a guy at pick ten who would make as big as an impact for our team than a guy like Clady.

 

[LSSpam]

For those that still don't believe we need offensive help in the draft... consider this... the Saints finished 4th in offense, but in how many of those games were "junk yards"?

Not many. We averaged more yards per win then we averaged per loss.

 

[MSUSousaphone]

I post this a lot, and I apologize for that, but its relavent.

I think our 2nd round pick is a lock for TE. We brought in Troupe and made a push to get Shockey for our second....that shows that this FO wants a TE and they are willing to give up a second to get one.

I expect us to go with Keller, Davis, or Carlson...or land Shockey.

 

[Deuuuuce]

Not many. We averaged more yards per win then we averaged per loss.

LSSpam...with Dorsey, Ellis off the board, would you go with a guy like Mckelvin or Rivers over a stud O-lineman like Clady.

Lombardi said it best when he said the game is about blocking and tackling...I'm just not convinced that a young corner like Mckelvin would come in and suddenly make our defense a force.

 

[wbbigtymer]

I do agree we need a fresh young athlete at TE but not sure this draft is going to produce that player for us. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the offense especially if Deuce returns to anything close to 100%.

I'm all about fixing this defense. Just sick of getting pushed around for so long. I think 2 of the first 3 rounds need to be defense, preferably some combo DT/LB/CB and I wouldn't be disappointed if the first 3 rounds were all defense.

We need young defensive playmakers.

That is why it would be awesome to acquire an accomplished veteran player like Shockey, but not at the expense of a 1-3 pick that needs to be used to continue to build our team or a cornerstone player at an already thin position like Harper. The bottom line is that we're not going to draft a TE that is going to fill our need at that position this year and we didn't sign any in FA, so we'd have to trade for one.

 

[LSSpam]

LSSpam...with Dorsey, Ellis off the board, would you go with a guy like Mckelvin or Rivers over a stud O-lineman like Clady.

Lombardi said it best when he said the game is about blocking and tackling...I'm just not convinced that a young corner like Mckelvin would come in and suddenly make our defense a force.

Well, to start off with, this "suddenly make our defense better" business is overrated. Honestly, odds are no one we draft at #10 is going to make the difference between us winning or losing the Super Bowl. You can't just keep passing on CBs just because they have a learning curve. At some point they have to be drafted and developed. We're sure as heck not getting them via Free Agency (McKenzie came via trade). So we have to bite the bullet and draft the position eventually.

As far as Clady goes, I can't say i'd be unhappy with him, but I'm happy with Brown at LT and don't really consider RT a position necessarily worth #10 overall. But i'm not sure someone like Rivers is worth #10 either so

Really we're kind of in a tough spot. From a strictly BPA/value standpoint I strongly suspect we'll be staring at Mendenhall.

 

[duckjr78]

I agree with the OP. I don't care a thing about yards either on D or O. Points is the only thing that matters and I for one think we should have been alot closer to 27 a game instead of 24. That said, our turnover diff is what gets me. Sure, we turned it over to many times. But how, in the world, did we force so few? I put sacks almost in the turnover category as well. It's not very often you get a sack in a series and the O still picks up a 1st down. Our lack of turnovers and sacks last year was pathetic. Fixing that, either with a better scheme or better talent should be the priority. With more turnovers (shorter field) our O would put up more points, and fewer yards. This should be the goal.

 

[Deuuuuce]

Well, to start off with, this "suddenly make our defense better" business is overrated. Honestly, odds are no one we draft at #10 is going to make the difference between us winning or losing the Super Bowl. You can't just keep passing on CBs just because they have a learning curve. At some point they have to be drafted and developed. We're sure as heck not getting them via Free Agency (McKenzie came via trade). So we have to bite the bullet and draft the position eventually.

As far as Clady goes, I can't say i'd be unhappy with him, but I'm happy with Brown at LT and don't really consider RT a position necessarily worth #10 overall. But i'm not sure someone like Rivers is worth #10 either so

Really we're kind of in a tough spot. From a strictly BPA/value standpoint I strongly suspect we'll be staring at Mendenhall.

Well honestly I don't even know if a guy like Mckelvin would make a big impact over the long haul either. Despite what most people think, we are pretty deep at CB now after signing Gay. Remember also, we did draft a first day CB last year and his name is Usama Young.... Mckenzie, Usama, Gay, Craft, David....That's really not that bad IMO. Why do we HAVE to draft a corner?

I agree, we are in a bit of a tough spot and I wouldn't mind going BPA....Mendenhall would be a great player to draft and he is insurance for Deuce, but I would rather get a physical prescense on the offensive line. Our offense struggled in all of our losses I can remember in the Payton era, and most of the struggles could be pinned on the O-line.

Remember the NFC championship game, remember the 0-4 start, remember the loss to the rams...All of these games we got beat by good D-lines.

 

[wbbigtymer]

As far as Clady goes, I can't say i'd be unhappy with him, but I'm happy with Brown at LT and don't really consider RT a position necessarily worth #10 overall. But i'm not sure someone like Rivers is worth #10 either so

Really we're kind of in a tough spot. From a strictly BPA/value standpoint I strongly suspect we'll be staring at Mendenhall.

I'm really warming up more and more to the idea that we might have to just end up staying put at #10 and taking someone. I'd love to land one of the DTs, but I definitely don't want to get my hopes up. I'd like to trade down and get more picks while still getting quality players, but if you believe what you hear, not many teams will be willing to trade up to the top 10 this year. So that pretty much means we'll be picking someone at the tenth spot that many of us have previously thought of as not being worth the 10th pick. As much as it would be a risk to take, say, DRC, I can't justify not taking that risk when we're so desperate for young talent in our secondary and some team is going to take him high in the first round anyway. He might have just as much or more potential upside as someone like Mendenhall, and he might be a higher risk pick, but he's at a position that we need much more and that is generally much harder for teams to solidify themselves at, just as you've pointed out. Mendenhall could potentially have more of an immediate impact on our team, especially if Deuce can't contribute this year at full strength, but DRC definitely has the promise to contribute a whole lot more in the long run if everything goes well. Heck, we should still be hoping Bush becomes an All Pro any time now, shouldn't we? Despite his struggles making it in the NFL, there's no reason to have any less faith in him right now than in some unproven rookie.