comments from Saints fans: An amazing pickup for the Saints. Jimmy and Ben at TE on the field at the same time. Wow. great pick up Great pickup. this is a great signing!! This is a great pick up great pickup. This is great! Great, great signing. He'll be a great duo with Jimmy Great job by the front office. LOOMIS - you made it happen again! BEST GM in the league. Wow!! I love it!! Always been a big Watson fan, welcome aboard Ben!!! Great signing! LOVE the Watson signing!!! Freaking sweet!!! YES! awesome! This signing is kinda freakin awesome. really excellent signing. excellent pickup Excellent pickup! Made my day. Excellent, Saints FO! I like this signing alot Very happy with this signing! Huge, huge upgrade Feeling better about that $2K I dropped down on my ticket renewal 3 days ago Watson would be a #1 TE on over half of all NFL teams. The best part is, he is not a #2 TE. He is OUR #2 TE, yes, but I bet nobody here can name 15 TEs in the NFL who are better than Watson. He is a bonafide #1 TE. What an awesome signing Catching 49 balls in CLEVELAND is nothing short of amazing. He had 68 catches a couple of years before that. I love this signing. Dude caught a significant number of passes with the QBs they have in Cleveland. Perfect addition to this team. No longer worried about the TE position in the event Graham goes down to injury. Drew throws him a TD, start the "ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON!" jokes, hehe. SP's new toy! Move over NFC South...Two TE sets can wreak havoc in a secondary. And my ohh my can this do wonders for our running game. I see some serious match-up problems in the future...for our opponents. Ah hahahahaha. Our offense just became more potent. July 28, 2012 -- Cleveland Browns tight end Benjamin Watson runs with his two daughters Grace Watson (left), Naomi Watson (right) and a family friend(center) after NFL football training camp in Berea, Ohio
What a tandem they will have with Watson & Graham! that's all i saw when i looked at a couple Browns forums, but they were all dead. not surprising when you consider their W/L record since 1999 when they got the new team in Cleveland 1999 2-14 2000 3-13 2001 7-9 2002 9-7 2003 5-11 2004 4-12 2005 6-10 2006 4-12 2007 10-6 2008 4-12 2009 5-11 2010 5-11 2011 4-12 2012 5-11
Watson: "It's definitely an honor to play for an organization like the Saints," Watson said. "It's obviously an organization I have admired from afar. It's a great opportunity for me. I always wanted to be a part of a team like the Saints that's in the hunt and continues to be in the hunt. So I'm happy that they reached out to me and expressed to me that they wanted me to come." "There were a couple of other teams (interested in signing Watson), but the Saints are really the team that came at me the most," Watson said. "They really wanted me to be a part of the organization. When a team wants you to be a part of the organization and the head coach calls you personally and tells you he wants you to be a part of the organization it means a lot. "And the city of New Orleans is definitely a city that I look forward to being a part of. The people from New Orleans are some of the most gracious and passionate people that I know. The fan base here is second to none. It's really an exciting time for me and my family."
I think Payton used the year off to his advantage. It gave him a unique opportunity to watch a lot of games and to see what other teams are doing to be successful. In particular, NE and how they use their 2 TE sets to just shred teams. If we can just shore up LT or if Charles Brown does the job protecting Drew, our O is going to be pretty much unstoppable. We went 7-9 with the worse defense in league history, so if we can improve on that side just a little, maybe a top 15-20 D that forces TO, we'll be right there in contention at the end of the year.
Mark Ingram is now #22, his number at Alabama, and the number of Emmitt Smith some compared him to. When Ingram joined the Saints, #22 belonged to Super Bowl hero CB Tracy Porter Fun fact: Deuce McAllister wore #22 at Ole Miss but when he joined the Saints, #22 belonged to CB Fred Thomas
Speaking of...I think he's a FA this year too. I'd LOVE to see him back in a Saints uniform, but doubtful since we had to let him go when we had more room under the cap then we do now. Salary caps suck. NFL profits are at an all time high, but the cap remains static. I'm not sure who or how it's determined every year, but it looks like the owners shafted the players in the CBA that was signed a couple of years ago. Wonder how baseball has managed to avoid one, but the other 2 major sports have them??
Tweets from Times-Picayune Saints reporter Larry Holder on Sean Payton's presser at the NFL owners meeting today: Payton said it's dangerous to have a mindset and "not real" to think his return to the #Saints will bring team back to 2009-2011 success Payton said you have to avoid the perception the #Saints will be right back in because he returned. Still a lot of work ahead of us. Two things that keep Payton up at night: how can the #Saints improve at pass rush and who's going to play left tackle. Payton said he looks at the left tackle spot on his depth chart board as being blank. Issue with Charles Brown is not being "available." Payton said the #Saints are in a race to improve defense. Mentioned OLB numerous times. Payton said Rob Ryan will have a tremendous impact.
Edge rushing OLB Victor Butler will indeed visit the Saints tomorrow. Would be shocked if he leaves without a contract. He wants to play for the Saints. Would be a perfect fit, as he played under Ryan at Dallas.
Evan Silva, senior NFL Editor for Rotoworld and writer for NBC Sports, wrote today: Former second-round pick Brown possesses ample talent to replace Bushrod, if not prove an upgrade. Durability is Brown's biggest concern.
