New Orleans Saints Discussion

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

With pick 122, I selected DE Tyrone Crawford from Boise State.

Atta boy!!!

[CJSchneider]

5th round pick 162, DT Marcus Forston, from The U.

[CJSchneider]

6th round, pick 179, TE James Hanna from Oklahoma.

[Bert Macklin]

Yeah buddy Loomis

@LHolderCBS LB Jonathan Vilma had his contract restructured, according to a league source. No immediate details are known.

@LHolderCBS Greer's new deal and Vilma's restructured deal are cap friendly for 2012, via league source.

[NOLAFan]

I'd still like to see Brees locked up sooner rather than later

[Bert Macklin]

No way we could have done it with 400k under the cap. This needed to happen first.

[Bert Macklin]

Wtf

The New Orleans Saints are a team without their leader on the field with quarterback Drew Brees unsigned, and a team without their leader on the sidelines with head coach Sean Payton suspended. And they may also be a team facing leadership questions at the highest levels of their front office.

Saints owner Tom Benson has often praised his 35-year-old granddaughter, Rita Benson LeBlanc, as the right person to lead the franchise for decades to come. But the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports, citing multiple unnamed sources, that LeBlanc is serving some form of unofficial paid administrative leave, imposed by Benson, because the man who has owned the Saints for 27 years is growing concerned with his granddaughter’s approach to business.

The report is short on specifics, saying only that Benson saw “a pattern of behavior that needed to be corrected” from his granddaughter. Among the issues raised are a “lack of focus and abrasive management style,” evidenced by, among other things, going through an estimated 30 assistants in her six years of working full-time with the team. She’s also reportedly “developed a reputation for stalling projects,” and Benson (who made his own money) is concerned that his granddaughter (who was born rich) has developed a sense of entitlement.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...or-the-saints/

[diabsoule]

That doesn't surprise me.

[diabsoule]

Jut completed Mock Four on twitter with a bunch of draftnicks. I employed a different strategy for the Saints by trading out of the 3rd and into the 4th (picked up a 4th & 5th), then traded back from the first pick in the 4th and picked up two 5th and a 7th. So, the Saints had 8 picks altogether from the 4th round to the 7th round.

Here's the results:

4.27 - DE Tyrone Crawford, Boise St.
5.04 - WR Rishard Matthews, Nevada
5.12 - QB Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
5.25 - CB Shaun Prater, Iowa
5.27 - CB Asa Jackson, Cal-Poly
6.09 - S Janzen Jackson, McNeese St.
7.04 - ILB Shaun Loiseau, Merrimack
7.27 - TE James Hanna, Oklahoma

What do ya'll think?

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by diabsoule

Jut completed Mock Four on twitter with a bunch of draftnicks. I employed a different strategy for the Saints by trading out of the 3rd and into the 4th (picked up a 4th & 5th), then traded back from the first pick in the 4th and picked up two 5th and a 7th. So, the Saints had 8 picks altogether from the 4th round to the 7th round.

Here's the results:

4.27 - TE Tyrone Crawford, Boise St.
5.04 - WR Rishard Matthews, Nevada
5.12 - QB Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
5.25 - CB Shaun Prater, Iowa
5.27 - CB Asa Jackson, Cal-Poly
6.09 - S Janzen Jackson, McNeese St.
7.04 - ILB Shaun Loiseau, Merrimack
7.27 - TE James Hanna, Oklahoma

What do ya'll think?

3 great picks plus 5 camp bodies. Nice job.

[CJSchneider]

With Alfonzo Dennard's arrest, do you see him slipping to the 3rd round and if he does, do you hope we draft him?

[Bert Macklin]

So we resigned John Kasey. Is Hartley not ready?

[CJSchneider]

Final forum mock
Saints draft recap

89. New Orleans Saints - S Markelle Martin, Oklahoma State
122. New Orleans Saints - DE Tyrone Crawford, Boise State
162. New Orleans Saints - DT Marcus Forston, Miami
179. New Orleans Saints (from MIA) - TE James Hanna, Oklahoma
234. New Orleans Saints - WR Danny Coale, Virginia Tech

[Bert Macklin]

So does Sharper retire and enter the HoF as a Saint? Every time I hear him doing some function he's with former Saints and always repping us.

[CJSchneider]

So, what do you suspect we will do with the awesome 1st round pick we get this year?

[saintsfan912]

Hopefully one of Star, Reid, that Swedish sounding guy from FSU or trade down for Montgomery. Pretty ****** we don't have our 2nd bc of the fake bounty ****.

[CJSchneider]

Well we finally got "off the schneid" and beat SD last night. Brees and Colston were on fire.

[CJSchneider]

http://draftcountdown.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54087

11.) New Orleans Saints - DE Sam Montgomery, LSU
73.) New Orleans Saints - DT Sylvester Williams, North Carolina
104.) New Orleans Saints -OT Xavier Nixon, Florida

[Saints Dome Patrol]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

So, what do you suspect we will do with the awesome 1st round pick we get this year?

Originally Posted by saintsfan912

Hopefully one of Star, Reid, that Swedish sounding guy from FSU or trade down for Montgomery. Pretty ****** we don't have our 2nd bc of the fake bounty ****.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking ahead... *sigh*

I posted this question in the actual Draft thread of this discussion forum, but I didn't realize it had already been asked.

As a Saints fan, I still hope for the best to happen, and of course, hope we can continue on our winning ways and get to the playoffs. Looking ahead at our schedule, it doesn't look too promising.

That said, if we do fall short of the postseason, depending on how good we do will determine if we are able to get someone like Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei or Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones or someone who's projected as a mid-first rounder like USC safety T.J. McDonald or Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker.

As a Saints fan, I would hope we're more in the middle of the first round (if we miss the playoffs that is) since that means we probably went something more like 8-8 or 9-7 -- but with the remaining schedule we have and the way the season has gone so far... we may actually be looking at a top ten pick.

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

http://draftcountdown.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54087

11.) New Orleans Saints - DE Sam Montgomery, LSU
73.) New Orleans Saints - DT Sylvester Williams, North Carolina
104.) New Orleans Saints -OT Xavier Nixon, Florida

That being said, I see people are already speculating where teams will finish and doing mock drafts. Great. Season isn't half over and... never mind.

Anyway, I love, love, love the pick of Sam Montgomery. I am an LSU alum and have seen Montgomery play in person numerous times. Even though Mingo gets more of the attention, Montgomery is the more solid pick, in my opinion. I think he could be more like a Jason Pierre-Paul type for us, especially in Steve Spagnuolo's defensive scheme. I am surprised he was still available at where you picked, however.

As for Williams and Nixon, I'm not real familiar with either one of them, but they both seem to fill a need. I doubt that Broderick Bunkley is the long-term answer in the middle of the front four and Sedrick Ellis is really wearing out his welcome in N'Awlins if you ask me. And our two tackles are (inconsistently) solid, but definitely not spectacular.

I am very interested to see who you target with the remaining selections of this early, early mock 2013 NFL Draft.

[Auron]

Well heading into Week 7, I think we're at a Crossroads in our season.

That first Win two weeks ago could spark a run, give us some hope. If we can just get back to .500 we'll be right back in the picture for a Wild Card. It seems unlikely, but possible... after all the team did it back in '07 pulling off 4 straight victories after an 0-4 start.

On the other hand if we lose at Tampa, and Denver I think that would be disastrous.. and at that point we're going to end up playing the 2nd half of our season for pride.

Going to need to see more improvement from the Defense, they played very solid Second halves in Green Bay and also vs. the Chargers. They need that performance to carry over for a whole game. Also I think we're going to definitely have to develop some kind of a running game, because we won't win in Tampa or Denver with Brees throwing it 45 times a game.

[Legacy]

Originally Posted by Auron

Also I think we're going to definitely have to develop some kind of a running game, because we won't win in Tampa or Denver with Brees throwing it 45 times a game.

The Bucs currently have the 4th best rushing defense in the NFL, but the 25th best passing defense.

The Saints have a much better chance of winning if they give the ball to Brees.

[Auron]

Originally Posted by Legacy

The Bucs currently have the 4th best rushing defense in the NFL, but the 25th best passing defense.

The Saints have a much better chance of winning if they give the ball to Brees.

Oh I know all about the stats, and I know the Bucs have a completely new coaching staff. I still think they'll continue to Defensively play Brees how they always have. Which is mostly rush 4, drop back and keep everything in front of them. Take away the down the field routes, and try to force passes in coverage. It's worked in the past, and if we continue to throw, throw, throw we're bound to have turnovers.

I think the key to winning a game like this is perseverance with the run game, we might get a few stuffed a lot early but stick with it and hopefully get something going in the run game. I mean we have 3 arguable 4 very talented Running backs and none have really been used to their full effectiveness this season.

[Auron]

Postscript: Never thought I'd see the Bucs play so much Single Safety, Man Under looks. Their Linebackers played aggressive and downhill pretty much all game, and I mean they limited the run.. but therefore opening up huge holes in the middle of the field for Brees off play action.

Really thought Schiano would follow the Raheem Morris-strategy for Defensively playing Brees, and pretty much disregard the run drop everyone except 4-5 rushers into coverage, and mostly play Zones; but I guess we showed enough run for the Bucs to respect it.

[CJSchneider]

Flyboy, can we get the week 9 game thread up early and maybe work some pre-game juju?

[CJSchneider]

Flyboy, get that week 10 thread open so we can celebrate.