Extraordinary leader on the field. Top flight winner. Can't hurt. I gotta believe he is better than Simoneau's replacement, since Simoneau was very mediocre to begin with.
If Brooks can walk at a brisk pace for three seconds he is an upgrade over Shanle. I think Fujita is at least as good as the aged Brooks. Too bad this didn't happen 5 years ago.
Looks like we are likely to sign Brooks. Here is the info from saintsreport.com It appears the only things standing in the way of the Saints signing LB Derrick Brooks are money and time. Look at it this way. Payton said after Brooks and fellow free agent LB Derek Smith worked out for the team last Wednesday, that they would wait until after the Bengals game to decide whether to offer a contract and that they would make a decision by Saturday. There's been no news since as Payton called the situation "ongoing." The Saints saw Brooks up close in the workout, they studied film of him, they questioned his former coach - Jon Gruden, they put the player whose injury triggered the interest in Brooks (Mark Simoneau) on injured reserve, meaning he ain't coming back, and they saw their linebackers play against Cincinnati. In other words, they have all the information they're going to get and Payton hasn't said they're not going to sign him. So they're interested and the only logical explanation for a deal not being done is that they're haggling over money. In that regard, the Saints have the upper hand. Brooks needs them more than they need Brooks. He'd be nice to have, but he'd only be a role player, and they were prepared to go without him from the time Brooks was released in February until Simoneau was lost a week ago. Brooks has no other serious suitors and the Saints give him a chance to play for a contender and play two games against the team that cut him - the Buccaneers. When Brooks has enough time to realize this is the best place for him and it's worth him coming on the Saints terms, or at least closer to them than he currently appears to be, presumably he'll sign.
Now that David is gone and there's more cap space, I'll bet we see an agreement here in the next day or so. The Raiders didn't sign Brooks because they wanted more of a Special Teams/role player guy, so I think it's safe to say he still has some gas left in the tank. Can you imagine Brooks and Vilma on the field together?
Well there is the idea of strong side and weak side linebackers, and I am assuming Brooks and Shanle don't play the same side.
Brooks has played both sides over the course of his career, but is mostly a strongside, and so is Shanle. For certain Fujita is mostly on the weakside, but has played strong side as well. So even if Brooks can only play strong side Fujita is mobile, and Shanle can move to the bench.
