The Saints will select between 11th and 19th in the first round. A Bears win tonight moves to Saints into the top 18 and I believe we're already mathematically ahead of the Cowboys and Jets, so it looks like 11th to 16th. I'm not sure what the better result against the Panthers would be. Do you prefer a loss and move up in the draft... Or...a win in hope of building momentum for next season? I just don't want to see us win then give up the world to move up a few slots in the draft.
Thats a tough call, if you where the GM, what would you do in this situation. Its some great defensive players on the board this year.
Here's the draft order with one game to go. I think the Redskins are above the Saints (even though they beat New Orleans) because they have a weaker strength of schedule. It's amazing how they could move up or down so many positions with only one game left. There are a lot of teams hanging around .500 this season. ROUND ONE 1. Detroit (0-15) 2. *St. Louis (2-13) 3. *Kansas City (2-13) 4. Cincinnati (3-11-1) 5. Seattle (4-11) 6. Oakland (4-11) 7. Cleveland (4-11) 8. Green Bay (5-10) 9. Jacksonville (5-10) 10. San Francisco (6-9) 11. Buffalo (7-8) 12. Houston (7-8) 13. San Diego (7-8) 14. Washington (8-7) 15. New Orleans (8-7) 16. Denver (8-7) 17. Arizona (8-7) 18. Philadelphia (8-6-1) 19. New York Jets (9-6) 20. Chicago (9-6) 21. Tampa Bay (9-6) 22. Detroit (from Dallas) (9-6) 23. Minnesota (9-6) 24. New England (10-5) 25. Miami (10-5) 26. Atlanta (10-5) 27. Baltimore (10-5) 28. Philadelphia (from Carolina) (11-4) 29. Indianapolis (11-4) 30. Pittsburgh (11-4) 31. New York Giants (12-3) 32. Tennessee (13-2)
Agree with you about the rationale to draft RBush (that move HAD to be made and look how excited everyone was about the Saints again after that), and what his strengths are. Also agree with the comments about Deuce being one of best picks. Since Deuce's career is clearly winding down, and you say to not waste a first round pick on a RB, who should we go after, a free agent, or a later draft pick, and specifically who? I think if the Saints had done a better job getting a fresh RB earlier in the year, their record would likely have been significantly better. People talk about defense, but they made some significant upgrades this past year. Not recognizing or correcting the problem at RB this year is why they are not in the playoffs, IMO.
My feeling is if Jason Daivd would have come in here and set the world on fire like they thought he would, than the Saints draft Matt Forte at RB in the second round. That would solve the rb problem for the next 6 to 7 years
Reggie has been a ticket seller. The dome's been sold out since drafting him. That's all benson is worried about anyway.
You're evaluating the drafting of RB based on his 3 years as a pro. Would you have felt the same way about him had you been the man responsible for making the call back in '06? If so, you're in a vast minority. Reg's deficiencies are obvious, but not many would have predicted them coming out of college. Remember, we're still talking about a player who's given the Saints more than 3,000 yards of total offense and 20 TD's (plus 4 more on special teams) in less than 3 years. So what if he's only gotten half of that on handoffs? I'd be making it up if I gave you my recommendation on who the Saints should go after; I don't go in for player evaluations that way anymore. I'm just looking at what we have now, and IMO, every back on the team has been misused this year. Deuce and Pierre, not enough, and Reggie, too much in the I and not enough in his hybrid role. I believe Deuce still has some left in the tank. Re-structure his contract, have him split time with PT next year, handing the ball off more (Brees is putting up legendary numbers this year, but throwing 35-45 times a game is not a winning formula), while working the ball to Reg with some runs, and in the passing game. Gamble on a small college big back in the low rounds, and if we miss, go for the big-timer in '10.
Yes, actually. I was against it from the get go. He was impressive running all over those Pac-10 teams, but I knew he wouldn't be able to do that against the hard-hitting, bigger and faster defenses of the NFL. If you look at his college stats, he really only had one really good year. He wasn't a constant contributor 1000+ yard back until his junior year, which is why Scott should stick around too. Akili Smith had only one really good year, and look how he turned out. I also thought he would be more injury prone because of his size and tendencies. The Saints should have been smarter and traded down. They probably would have gotten more than you'd think because some other desperate team was dying to have him. Here is what Nooch posted in another thread: Top 5 RBs taken in '06 draft by career yards(total yards: rush, rec, ret) Jones-Drew (60th pick) 5,643 yds Leon Washington (117th) 5,203 yds Jerrius Norwood (79th pick) 5,029 yds DeAngelo Willimas (27th pick) 3,910 yds Reggie Bush (2nd pick) 3,647 yds Averages Jones-Drew (60th pick) 5,643 yds ; 713 att ; 8.95 avg Leon Washington (117th) 5,203 yds ; 541 att ; 9.61 avg Jerrius Norwood (79th pick) 5,029 yds ; 469 att ; 10.72 avg DeAngelo Willimas (27th pick) 3,910 yds ; 612 att ; 6.38 avg Reggie Bush (2nd pick) 3,647 yds ; 682 att; 5.34 avg Other 1st round backs from '06 Laurence Maroney (21st pick) 2,766 yds ; 442 att ; 6.25 avg Joe Addai (30th pick) 3,533 ; 745 att ; 4.74 avg rush/rec yds only Jones-Drew --> 3,691 yds ; 627 att ; 5.88 avg Washington --> 2,146 yds ; 387 att ; 5.54 avg Norwood --> 2,353 yds ; 361 att ; 6.51 avg Williams --> 3,056 yds ; 567 att ; 5.38 avg Reggie --> 3,149 yds ; 631 att ; 4.99 avg Addai --> 3,533 yds ; 745 att ; 4.74 avg Mediocre to say the least, especially considering he was a #2 pick. And I wasn't the only one that thought he wouldn't be that great. Most people had him going in the first round, and many of those did so because they knew the NFL would take a shot on him. I will say this, once they drafted him, I was a little excited to see if I could be proven wrong. I was really hoping he would be the Barry Sanders everyone made him out to be.
