- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 19,933
- Reaction score
- 41,788
Offline
This is not a problem of a person, this is problem of structure.
Dennis Lauscha and Mickey Loomis are the people that Benson trusts in his sports business.
Lauscha has always been the de facto power. He basically makes the decisions a regular owner would.
Mickey is in charge of heading the saints and pelicans, and here is the problem.
Mickey is a good administrator, an aggressive guy who takes the business to the limit looking for the best results possible.
Mickey has never been a football guy, he has never been a scout or and x's and o's kind of guy. The best asset Mickey has is to know what his limits are and surround himself with quality manager to do the job as best as possible.
For money issues (cap), he has relied on Khai Harley, for building the team he relied on Rick Reiprish (draft) and Ryan Pace (pros). Reiprish and Pace were strong opinions to balance with Payton's, but the structure changed.
Pace left and Reiprish was fired, and here comes Ireland and Terry Fontenot.
It is too early to judge Ireland's draft but they it seems we are getting better (not spectacular results). Now, on the hiring of free agents, I think we have less then good experiences.
I think the biggest problem with free agency is that we have gone for the kill, looking to get free agents that are supposed to by the "cherry of the pie", the last piece of the puzzle.
We have given big money to positions like tight end and safety, and to my judgement this are not the building blocks for a team.
If I have to define the problem is the lack of strategy:
- We need to choose a scheme, marry to it, and build upon it.
- We need to have a budget by group and respect it.
- We have to understand that some key positions are only filled with draft picks and that free agency is for secondary positions and depth.
- We should be using free agency money to sign players that are hitting prime but haven't been even starters on their original team. That takes a lot of scouting.
- Big contracts are only for our own players. Players we know they will continue performing on high level.
- We should use our later draft picks for developing players that after a couple of years can substitute players that may leave after their first contract.
And more important, we should be patient and understand that we are not a player away, we need to reinforce our systems, and continue to patiently build around them. That is the way to keep a team competitive, and with some luck, to advance deep in the playoffs.
Mickey can build a structure like this, but he needs to find people that makes him (and Payton) to be more patient. To me, Lauscha should be that man.
Great Post