This is the first off-season where I've been truly worried about the state of our team (1 Viewer)

David Robbins

Ole Miss Rocks!
Joined
Mar 30, 2001
Messages
27,888
Reaction score
4,490
Age
60
Location
Jackson, MS
Offline
David Onyemata
Eli Apple
Von Bell
P.J. Williams
A.J. Klien
Andrus Peat
Drew Brees
Teddy Bridgewater
Taysom Hill

These are just a few of the names that are upcoming Free-agents. And, we don't have the money to pay them. Then we have guys like:

Marshon Lattimore
Alvin Kamara
Ryan Ramcheik (SP?)
Sheldon Rankins
Alex Anzalone
Trey Hendrickson
Marcus Williams

All of these guys are soon going to have to be paid.

To top all of this off, we have very few Draft resources to begin to replenish the team's talent level. We have holes that need to be filled like WR, TE, OL, CB, LB, DT. And, to make matters worst, we have no monetary resources under the cap to fill all this. We have all of this dead money that is beginning to come due because of the management of Loomis - granted, he has had to do this to keep us competitive - but every dog will have its day eventually. This is the 1st off-season I have really been worried about the state of our team.

Maybe its time to begin to consider a complete rebuild. Drew is not getting any younger, and we have young players on this team that need to be taken care of now, before becoming free-agents. Every year these players play and get better, their prices go up. I really hate the Salary Cap because of this. Certain players command high dollar, and that takes away from the rest of the team. Players that play themselves into 100 million dollar contracts are great to have talent wise, but are really detrimental to the overall state of any team.

What are we to do? I love the idea of going after someone like A.J. Green, but do we really need him? Drew can't chunck the ball downfield anymore like he once did. We have no draft captal to go after high draft picks. Dang.
 
We're fine. We've had this discussion already. We'll have the money to pay these guys. Several people have worked it out using different means. None of them team breaking or drastic.

Here is a brief example I threw together the other day:
 
Even if we lose all of them on this year’s list, the roster is in much better shape than it was from 14-16 as long as we have one of the QBs.

Don’t worry. Be happy.
 
We're fine. We've had this discussion already. We'll have the money to pay these guys. Several people have worked it out using different means. None of them team breaking or drastic.

Here is a brief example I threw together the other day:
Now, I'm even more worried. lol
 
The Saints had a great thing, but now the window is closing. We had great drafts and had a massive influx of talent. It was inevitable that we would lose some of these guys. We just have to hope our front office can keep drafting well, but the reality is is that the 2017 was an all time draft and it will be a long time before any team has a draft like that.
 
David Onyemata (re-sign)
Eli Apple (will sign elsewhere)
Von Bell (re-sign)
P.J. Williams (50/50)
A.J. Klien (50/50)
Andrus Peat (will sign elsewhere)
Drew Brees (re-sign)
Teddy Bridgewater (will sign elsewhere)
Taysom Hill (tender and re-sign)

The key players here are Drew, Bell, and Onyemata... the rest are expendable or replaceable. I really think you can add Kamara and Rankins to this year's list. If so, then they become priority as well. What happens with Jenkins is important too. IMO, we should be able to keep these key players.



These are just a few of the names that are upcoming Free-agents. And, we don't have the money to pay them. Then we have guys like:

Marshon Lattimore (re-sign)
Alvin Kamara (New contract or trade in 2020 50/50)
Ryan Ramcheik (re-sign)
Sheldon Rankins (Extend or trade in 2020 70/30)
Alex Anzalone (50/50 depends on health)
Trey Hendrickson (50/50)
Marcus Williams (50/50)

Lattimore and Ramczyk are the priorities next year. I think AK and Rankins will be decided before then. The rest of these guys are important, but not key to our core unless Marcus Williams becomes more consistent in crucial situations. I also believe we can keep the guys we want next year, the key will be what we have at QB. If we find an answer for that position, we could/should have the core of our team intact.


All of these guys are soon going to have to be paid.

To top all of this off, we have very few Draft resources to begin to replenish the team's talent level. We have holes that need to be filled like WR, TE, OL, CB, LB, DT. And, to make matters worst, we have no monetary resources under the cap to fill all this. We have all of this dead money that is beginning to come due because of the management of Loomis - granted, he has had to do this to keep us competitive - but every dog will have its day eventually. This is the 1st off-season I have really been worried about the state of our team.

Maybe its time to begin to consider a complete rebuild. Drew is not getting any younger, and we have young players on this team that need to be taken care of now, before becoming free-agents. Every year these players play and get better, their prices go up. I really hate the Salary Cap because of this. Certain players command high dollar, and that takes away from the rest of the team. Players that play themselves into 100 million dollar contracts are great to have talent wise, but are really detrimental to the overall state of any team.

What are we to do? I love the idea of going after someone like A.J. Green, but do we really need him? Drew can't chunck the ball downfield anymore like he once did. We have no draft captal to go after high draft picks. Dang.


In the NFL, you don't go through a complete rebuild unless you don't have another choice. It's never been SP and ML's way to wipe the chalkboard and start over. Remember the three 7-9 seasons? That's what our re-build may look like, and that only if we haven't found an answer at QB or we weren't able to keep our team largely intact. I say this and I believe this, but the wildcard is QB. We've rebuilt while competing in the past, but we always had Drew. I'll admit our re-build process could look different without the security of having the best QB in history on the roster during the process.
 
David Onyemata
Eli Apple
Von Bell
P.J. Williams
A.J. Klien
Andrus Peat
Drew Brees
Teddy Bridgewater
Taysom Hill

These are just a few of the names that are upcoming Free-agents. And, we don't have the money to pay them. Then we have guys like:

Marshon Lattimore
Alvin Kamara
Ryan Ramcheik (SP?)
Sheldon Rankins
Alex Anzalone
Trey Hendrickson
Marcus Williams

All of these guys are soon going to have to be paid.

To top all of this off, we have very few Draft resources to begin to replenish the team's talent level. We have holes that need to be filled like WR, TE, OL, CB, LB, DT. And, to make matters worst, we have no monetary resources under the cap to fill all this. We have all of this dead money that is beginning to come due because of the management of Loomis - granted, he has had to do this to keep us competitive - but every dog will have its day eventually. This is the 1st off-season I have really been worried about the state of our team.

Maybe its time to begin to consider a complete rebuild. Drew is not getting any younger, and we have young players on this team that need to be taken care of now, before becoming free-agents. Every year these players play and get better, their prices go up. I really hate the Salary Cap because of this. Certain players command high dollar, and that takes away from the rest of the team. Players that play themselves into 100 million dollar contracts are great to have talent wise, but are really detrimental to the overall state of any team.

What are we to do? I love the idea of going after someone like A.J. Green, but do we really need him? Drew can't chunck the ball downfield anymore like he once did. We have no draft captal to go after high draft picks. Dang.

We’re just fine all depending on how much Drew Gets !
IMHO Bell should be allowed to walk unless resigned cheap.
apple
Bridgewater-Unless Brees Retires
Klein
Peat -Unless team friendly contract
All should be allowed to walk

onmenyeta you try to resign for the right price

Williams - His flexibly is key NCB,CB,FS I think we keep him and actually use him as a safety

Drew-Resign hopefully18-22million
Hill-Resign

We really don’t have any problems the way people make it seem

Jenkins /Kinko -19 million cap space between the 2

A couple of restructuring contracts , extensions and pay cuts (Robinson) well have about 20-25 million for free agency and draft picks

Get a CB, WR, DL, maybe OLin free agency
*CB only if Jenkins Walks

Therefore in the draft you can go BPA and hopefully double up on all 4 positions again
 
I don’t see a scenario where Williams, Anzalone, or Hendrickson breaks the bank

Sweet T, agree 100% on Anzalon aend Hendrickson. If you are talking about Marcus Williams, we as fans get frustrated with his occasional gafs. I read the post recently about PFF had him as an elite FS so I went to Pete. Coach Pete said that he will be expensive in free agency. The Saints have him not only playing deep safety on an island, but now have him playing some in the box. He makes a lot of turnovers for a FS but seldom let's a guy past him when he's the last line of defense.

I asked how much is a lot and he just said "a lot." Pete doesn't stay close to player contracts so he likely doesn't have a real idea, but it doesn't sound cheap.

Can Chauncey play that position if we lose Williams?
 
Now, I'm even more worried. lol

David - 2 of the members did excellent jobs of playing this out, LC and BayArea. BayArea rocked it using the Sportrac FA team modeler.

It really freaked me when I looked at this originally with real data. We are going to have 17 of 22 starters from 2019 who are FAs this and next year as well as 8-9 key rotational players. To me it's scary. But BayArea did a detail analysis of this coming year and with enough Loomising, we can keep this team basically intact. That does mean letting go players like Peat, Klein and Apple and maybe Onyemata. Most Who Dats don't think this will not impact the team much.

Personally, I feel much better, but not as comfortable as most. I worry about depth this year if we let these players and a few other key players go. However, next year still looks real ugly to me. I sure hope the others are right. And to keep this team together, we will continue to increase and kick our already pretty substantial dead cap down the road. But its been a glorious 3 year run and even with these player issues, I think we have the best FO/Coach combo team in the league.
 
my gestalt is that the window is closed and exit strategies are being put in place. Who to keep that is Saint first and me second is key to how we progress. Only cant guard Mike is invincible among those left. Maybe Lattimore but he comes off as taking care of business which means me first in translation. I am bothered by Cam Jordan and his media personality becoming more noticeable and less motivated to make Saints a SB expectation. Drew is old and over the hill and ready for a rapid drop out of the glide path to retirement that will end in a crash. Motivation is to be record book holder over Brady goat. When he did alll the memorable pre game chants that came off as heart felt and I don't get that sense anymore. Could be, but he just does not project thru the tube as the supreme commander he once was. Drew will always be politically correct and measured in his words, so it will sound good while we trend towards mediocrity. We will be OKAY with our roster, no chances taken since we are capable of taking advantage of other team flops and step up, kinda like playing the S&P index and being slow and steady but not gonna risk the home run stock. Hard to find any stupid trading partners in the days of analytics, where are we gonna find the spark to make the changes needed? We are good, not great and missed this opportunity window. Saints are too damn important to the identity of the city to tear it down to the bedrock as needed and will instead ride the slide to mediocrity happily and build the record book legend that is SP and Drew.

I fully agree with DR that there is an overwhelming sense of malaise and no way to solve it that is obvious.
 
IMHO Bell should be allowed to walk unless resigned cheap.

I can ride with you on most things, but not Bell. He was arguably the best player on our defense this past season and has improved every year since we drafted him. (in the discussion with Latt, Cam, and Davis) Strong Safeties usually don't get bank breaking contracts. I'm aware that we have a fast riser in Chauncey. But Bell has shown he can play deep as well and Chauncey has done well in the slot. I don't think they conflict at all. Keep and use them both.
 
Not getting it done and winning another Super Bowl in the past few years will seriously hurt this team. We had our chance. And now the window is over. Don’t expect to contend or win another Lombardi for a very very, very long time.
 
Welcome to the decline. We got screwed out of our Superbowl. So, the only thing we can do is retool till we are force to rebuild.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom