Saints [possibly] have 39 million in cap space?!?! (1 Viewer)

[TnSaint]

I think it's the general consensus around the league that we have a solid offense to work with and as long as we bring in legitimate defensive starters in then it's safe to say we should be able to build on what we were able to accomplish in 06

 

[birdog]

We've had more then one FO in the past twenty years. Loomis has done a good job at managing the cap and producing talent through the draft. We've see alot more then "1 starter a year." Building through the draft is a long process but its reward is longterm success.

We went 8 times to the playoffs since we came into existence! CORRECTION! We had a winning record 8 times since we came into existence..... That's what our talent evaluators have as a record, when it comes to the draft. A pathetic record, I might add, and goldrush is very correct pointing that out. I agree with your take in general, but the Saints talent evaluators suck! The record proves that. So building through the draft might be the right way to go, but we demonstrated that we can't draft players who contribute....and I'm talking especially defensive players! We did somewhat better on offense, so my problem is the defensive talent evaluation of the scouting dept. Our second and 3rd round defensive players are not even in the league anymore....Watson, Hodge, Grant, Allen should be playing somewhere, but the last time I checked they are nowhere being starters. And they all been drafted in the first 3 rds, so that proves the ineptitude of the scouting dept!

 

[GoldRush26]

We've had more then one FO in the past twenty years. Loomis has done a good job at managing the cap and producing talent through the draft. We've see alot more then "1 starter a year." Building through the draft is a long process but its reward is longterm success.

Maybe the problem isn't all within drafting, but keeping the players they do draft.

In '02 he landed Stallworth and LeCharles Bentley, both of whom are no longer on the team, and Charles Grant. In '03, Stinchcomb is the only one who's still on the team, and it took him 4 years to get on the field. '04 produced Mike Karney, Will Smith and Devery Henderson, who is soon to be off the team. '05 produced only Jamaal Brown, and we know about '06. '07 produced....no one yet.


Not a horrible job, but definitely not a good job I would say. A lot of the starters that Loomis does strike gold on, end up leaving the team, and that's not including the players he got rid of that were here previously like Ricky Williams, Darren Howard, Willie Roaf, Chris Naeole, Norman Hand, LaRoi Glover. I realize that they couldn't have kept all of these players but they could've kept a couple of them.

There is no "building through the draft" if they don't want to pay money. To build you have to be willing to maintain. You have to pay big bucks for players, whether they are free agents or you draft them. This team seems to have no clue.

 

[Gin-Tilly]

Mickey Mouse's voice irritates me. I know he's doing the PR thing but I get tired of the general crap he says on the sub-par players. Like I said, I know its his job so I just turn him off the air.

Last year was horrendous! They have no choice but to be EXTREMELY proactive this off season. The organization can't have another let down in the draft and FA.

 

['79 Saints]

Maybe the problem isn't all within drafting, but keeping the players they do draft.

In '02 he landed Stallworth and LeCharles Bentley, both of whom are no longer on the team, and Charles Grant. In '03, Stinchcomb is the only one who's still on the team, and it took him 4 years to get on the field. '04 produced Mike Karney, Will Smith and Devery Henderson, who is soon to be off the team. '05 produced only Jamaal Brown, and we know about '06. '07 produced....no one yet.


Not a horrible job, but definitely not a good job I would say. A lot of the starters that Loomis does strike gold on, end up leaving the team, and that's not including the players he got rid of that were here previously like Ricky Williams, Darren Howard, Willie Roaf, Chris Naeole, Norman Hand, LaRoi Glover. I realize that they couldn't have kept all of these players but they could've kept a couple of them.

There is no "building through the draft" if they don't want to pay money. To build you have to be willing to maintain. You have to pay big bucks for players, whether they are free agents or you draft them. This team seems to have no clue.

O.K., I was all set to blast you until you backed up and wrote this... let's drop Hand and Glover from this list, since they were FAs signed by the Saints...

Montre Holland is a 4th round pick who is a starter with the Broncos. Marc Bulger is a 6th round pick who is a starter with the Rams.

But let's back up a moment... do you think the Saints are the only team that loses draft picks due to free agency? Indianapolis lets players go with regularity (Mike Doss, a 2nd round pick, for example) and signs very few in return.

Pittsburgh has been one of the best teams using the draft -why? Because they have had a grand total of 3 coaches in 38 years! That's having that consistent FO, consistent scouting department, consistent coaching staff informing said scouts what they were looking for in the draft, and drafting accordingly.

I've written this one before, but there was a fascinating article from a Sporting News draft guide talking about this very thing -and they mentioned the Saints (without giving the name of the franchise). They talked about how they went from wanting small, quick defensive linemen that can get upfield, to big, heavy guys to plug up the middle. Then they wanted tall, rangy linebackers, to small, quick guys and so forth, so the scouts are left reshuffling their files and racing all over the country trying to find guys who fit the philosophy du jour.

Saints scouts have come from other teams, and have moved on to other ones after leaving us, so they can't be that bad... and while Loomis makes the final call, both Haslett and now Payton have a major say in how the board is put together and what players are coming in. So before one can say, "Mickey can't pick players..." keep in mind who he was picking players for.