There's no easy way out of this (2 Viewers)

[St. Geezy]

The overall roster age is skewed because of the amount of undrafted free agents/rookies we had to have at the bottom of the roster just to fill spots but we have one of the oldest starting lineups in the NFL (healthy). We are reliant on older players for success.

Okay....again I ask. Aside from Cam Jordan, what older players do you think the Saints are itching to cut but can't? The only older players of concern from my eyes outside of Jordan are Demario, Tyrann, Carr, Taysom, and Kamara, and those guys aren't going anywhere.

I get that we want a reset, I just don't understand the need to blow everything up and I certainly don't understand where all these older players are everyone thinks we need to shed. Our problem is with staying healthy, and we need to draft some more playmakers and depth, along with another free agent or two to help fortify things IMO.

 

[St. Geezy]

As long as we have added to the squad, I'd tend to believe them because our roster will reflect one that has been fortified.

Exactly...we are adding to a nucleus constantly. The core guys aren't getting switched out. The key for us is hitting some homeruns in the draft again, and maybe hitting on a lucky free agent or two, which is the same for most teams.

I just don't see this perfect utopia roster everyone envisions ever being realistic. This is our team, this is our squad. We saw how good they can be when healthy, now let's add to it and get some depth and understudies behind our starters with hopefully another playmaker or two added.

 

[Rexman100]

If there was a year to bite the bullet, cut some guys, and get the cap under control, it was last offseason. 2025 is not looking good for doing anything but kicking the can. $81 million over the cap and there are very few obvious cuts.

Lattimore actually costs you money to trade. Cutting Kamara saves you $18 million, but Cam Jordan costs you $3 million to cut. Carr only saves you $1.5 million to cut. Ramcyzck gets you $6 million (so that's a no-brainer). You save about $4 million total by cutting J.T. Gray and Khaulen Sanders.

In the end, we are stuck having to restructure a bunch of contracts of older players just to get under the cap, and that means we can't even really do a full rebuild like we need to. There will still be a lot of veteran players on this squad, some not really producing anything.

Can we get under the cap? Sure, but it's going to take until 2028 to really get this cap situation right, and that's assuming we even try.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us overpaying for old players who may or may not start while having to rely heavily on draft picks. If we don't knock it out of the park in the 2025 draft, we are going to be in the dumps for a while. We HAVE to start getting more draft picks now to even make it a possibility. Everyone should be in consideration to be traded before the deadline.

The big question is what coach is going to be willing to come here to take this project on.

It’s like giving your daughter a credit card of her own, then telling her, sorry it’s already maxed and you can’t use it for two years

 

[St. Geezy]

It’s like giving your daughter a credit card of her own, then telling her, sorry it’s already maxed and you can’t use it for two years

Actually it’s more like giving your daughter a credit card and telling her don’t worry, they will be significantly increasing the limit again next year and every year afterwards barring a pandemic, and you’re allowed to go over the limit perpetually every year based on that knowledge. Once every few years daddy will need you to chill on the spending just to catch up a tad if we go too far one year buying an extremely expensive item like a $125m QB, but don’t worry, there will always be future money to borrow from in most years.

 

[Ghost]

The overall roster age is skewed because of the amount of undrafted free agents/rookies we had to have at the bottom of the roster just to fill spots but we have one of the oldest starting lineups in the NFL (healthy). We are reliant on older players for success.

And add you can’t cut your starting QB and keep pushing his hit out with mid level play (at best.)

 

[tinman]

I’m not suggesting that Loomis is blame free, but I’m convinced that it was 90% Payton that was making the calls in the draft room.

Loomis certainly was signing off, but I find it hard to imagine he was either: a) forcing picks on Payton that he didn’t want; or b) telling Payton “no” to a trade up when Payton wanted a player, whether it was a home run like Kamara or busts like Davenport or Turner or, or, or.

THIS!
No matter what success we had, Payton completely screwed this team the last few years. He was more responsible for personnel selection & his record(w/a few exceptions) was well below avg.

 

[madsaint1967]

We have to get the players in the building no matter who the coach is

As much as people want to believe this is a DA issue, he's really just the scapegoat because no coach can win with the injuries this team has experienced and we are already in the process of a soft rebuild.

And last year and the year before. Spare me the scapegoat talk. 3 years is long enough, this team is actually quitting on DA. Can’t fix that.

 

[madsaint1967]

THIS!
No matter what success we had, Payton completely screwed this team the last few years. He was more responsible for personnel selection & his record(w/a few exceptions) was well below avg.

Mrs. Allen is that you

 

[tinman]

Mrs. Allen is that you

Thanx for your valued & enlightened opinion.

 

[WilliamBrees]

We just need to suck for Manning! Yes two years worth of suck. But in year one of sucking we can draft high linemen and get ready for the QB

It seems to me Manning is going to the AFC or he's meant to go there and be the true counter to Mahomes.

 

[DSnfla]

Fact. I also like what Houston did. They built the line, skill players, defense, then went and got a QB on a rookie deal. They'll use the cap to their advantage since guys like Collins will get paid before Stroud, but when Stroud comes due, the cap will be higher.

Yeah I like what Houston and Detroit did too. Maybe we can suck for a few yrs, get a bunch of high picks and find teams like LA and Cleveland to trade a bucket load of 1's 2;s and players for our underachieving QB's . I'm all on board with that

 

[DSnfla]

We just need to suck for Manning! Yes two years worth of suck. But in year one of sucking we can draft high linemen and get ready for the QB

What in his play against very weak teams in college has made you believe he is worth sucking for to get in position to draft him??? Ohh , wait it's just because his name is Manning. SMH

 

[DSnfla]

It’s very simple, have the right HC, QB & stay healthy. So we know the last one definitely is one of our common problems and the other two are iffy.

LOL you have a firm grasp on the obvious

 

[DSnfla]

The overall roster age is skewed because of the amount of undrafted free agents/rookies we had to have at the bottom of the roster just to fill spots but we have one of the oldest starting lineups in the NFL (healthy). We are reliant on older players for success.

LOL just about every team's bottom of the roster is filled with rookies and UDFA's
That roster age stat is not the tell all. 1st the difference between the youngest and the oldest is less than 2 yrs. 2nd QB's can play at an elite level well into their mid 30's. OL and DL can play very well into their 30's . Cam was playing very well 3 yrs ago @ 32 . Where age comes into play is @ WR, RB,CB and LB where speed is essential. So where age comes into play TM DD Cam and soon AK are where it matters

 

[DSnfla]

Hot take here:
Hire someone from the Dan Campbell coaching tree. Sure it is in its infant stage right now, but it has that old school football mentality, with the new school approach, and is built for the current age of play. If the Lions team can be rebuilt, then so can ours

You can't give Campbell very much credit for the Lions turnaround, He's the Ogeron of the NFL. Having multiple high draft choices from sucking for many yrs and also getting a boat load of 1's and 2's and Goff for trading Stafford was the beginning. Having a very good GM and drafting very well (having all those high picks helped ). THEN and here is where his success lies , he has a great OC and a good DC in Johnson and Glenn