we need to extend Brian De La Puente (1 Viewer)

[wnelson]

de la Puente is going to be cheap relatively speaking to his production level

Faine and Goodwin were demanding too much money for their level of play.

I think his agent knows his value

 

[DaDomePatrol]

No way he needs an extension. He is covered up by maybe the best guard tandem in the league. He does an ok job but who wouldn't when Brees is the qb and he has 2 greats next to him. I watch him get blow up and manhandled constantly. For what he was yes he has exceeded expectations of course but he is average. I would trade him in a heartbeat and go after a Center in this draft. Atleast let him show some improvement before he gets an extension. I watch him a lot and notice he gets consistently blown up which I think has really affected our run game.

 

[Domeination]

Ah. So since we missed on one prospect we should never, ever draft a center again for the rest of our franchise history?

No, really, like you said, great idea

Actually, we missed on two centers after Goodwin, one a draft pick and the other a FA--Tennant and Kreutz. That experiment caused real problems with our O line until DLP settled in. I'd rather not repeat the experiment when we have found a guy who's working for us. In fact, we've been playing a bit too much of musical chairs on the O line the last two years. That's a unit that needs stability.

 

[Rugger]

Actually, we missed on two centers after Goodwin, one a draft pick and the other a FA--Tennant and Kreutz. That experiment caused real problems with our O line until DLP settled in. I'd rather not repeat the experiment when we have found a guy who's working for us. In fact, we've been playing a bit too much of musical chairs on the O line the last two years. That's a unit that needs stability.

Sure stability would be nice but being that we are going to be up against the cap again next year, getting a talented cheap option in the draft is a very strong possibility. Bushrod drafted, Evans drafted, Strief drafted, Nicks drafted. Nicks and Jamal Brown drafted. Stitching drafted. Charles Brown and Marcel Jones drafted. Drafting and reloading our line is our M.O. Making snarky little comments about Matt Tennet does not change what we have done.

I am all for bringing BDL back, but the saints are not going to give him a lot of money and if they think he will be tough to resign, they will probably draft his replacement.

 

[SaintsJunkie]

Sure stability would be nice but being that we are going to be up against the cap again next year, getting a talented cheap option in the draft is a very strong possibility. Bushrod drafted, Evans drafted, Strief drafted, Nicks drafted. Nicks and Jamal Brown drafted. Stitching drafted. Charles Brown and Marcel Jones drafted. Drafting and reloading our line is our M.O. Making snarky little comments about Matt Tennet does not change what we have done.

I am all for bringing BDL back, but the saints are not going to give him a lot of money and if they think he will be tough to resign, they will probably draft his replacement.

I'm for keeping our good players and using our precious draft picks on areas of need.

 

[Domeination]

Making snarky little comments about Matt Tennet does not change what we have done.

You can call it being snarky that I pointed out the problem with your great idea of letting DLP go b/c according to you it's so easy to draft a replacement. I call it being mindful of the past and not wanting to repeat the mistake of letting a good center go when there's almost always ways for a GM to retain good players.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Fortunately centers are pretty cheap in the scheme of things. With Brees not liking pressure up the middle I simply don't think you don't resign the guy unless he wants all pro money.

 

[Proximo]

We've done it twice before

We have done this mostly with tackles, not interior linemen.

Jeff Faine signed a huge deal as a center, but we had Goodwin to step in.

Nicks left but we gave decent amount of money to Grubbs.

Tackles have left, but we don't put a premium on that position.

Thus, our interior line has always had replacements ready to step in or we spend money to replace them in FA. We don't have a replacement for DLP so we will pay him.

 

[LSSpam]

We have done this mostly with tackles, not interior linemen.

Jeff Faine signed a huge deal as a center, but we had Goodwin to step in.

Nicks left but we gave decent amount of money to Grubbs.

Tackles have left, but we don't put a premium on that position.

Thus, our interior line has always had replacements ready to step in or we spend money to replace them in FA. We don't have a replacement for DLP so we will pay him.

Sean Payton has had 3 centers in his career here. Two of the three left the very first time they hit free agency after starting for us. The third is de la Puente.

We had no replacement for Goodwin. Well. We had two, and we cut both in favor of the unknown de la Puente.

 

[Ryan]

It all depends on what kind of deal DLP is going to be looking for. If we can get him locked up for a reasonable contract then of course it'd be smart to do so. If he wants to be paid more than his play on the field dictates then Loomis will let him walk and we'll have to scramble to find a replacement.

 

[NawlinSaints]

We should definitely lock Brian up for at least a few years, before he gets too expensive. He is a great starter, and very very underrated IMO, especially in the run game.

 

[J.A.]

I'm sure somewhere Loomis is thanking you for your expert GM advice.

I laughed at this

 

[lapaz]

We usually draft an olineman or two in the latter parts of the draft, so I wouldn't expect anything less, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to try to retain DLP. I like the idea of offering him a long term contract shortly after the draft so that it prepares the team if DLP refuses it. This staff usually makes good offers to the quality players, and DLP is a very good player, so I think he'll get a good offer. I don't expect them to offer him top 5 money, but wouldn't be surprised if he gets a top 10 offer. If he wants more, then he will be allowed to walk, and we'll fill the position with someone else, but unless we're lucky, it will probably cause us to fill it within someone that won't be as good, and could cause some troubles for our offense.