So far, questionable moves made to get under the cap

Ok I get that I'm not an NFL GM and am about the furthest thing from it, but is anyone else wondering what the fuck the Saints brain trust is thinking ? I understand that when you have one player taking up $26m of your salary cap, there are going to be some unpopular decisions made with veterans who are fan favorites. As long as those decisions are smart, most fans can live with them. But I'm not sure the decisions they've made so far are that smart.
First, they release Pierre Thomas, even though his cap number was not that high, considering what the others were making. For what he brings to the team as the most versatile RB and veteran leadership, I'm not sure I understand why this move was made.

Then today, they release Lofton, who admittedly had a high cap hit, but he was the team captain and the best player on an already weak defense, so why get rid of him? I would have rather seen them cut Gallette or Bunkley, neither of which played to the level of their salary and both had about the same cap hit as Lofton.

And why haven't we heard anything about them trying to restructure Brees, when he's on the record as saying he would do it to help the them?

Am I missing something obvious with what's gone down so far? Right now, I don't have a great feeling about next season base on what they've done to this point. Hopefully, a

 

over/under on LSU-saints total wins set at 8.5.

 

Now reports from NOLA.com that they've traded Graham to conference rival Seattle. Just great. That over/under just went to 6.

 

Jimmy Graham's a big pussy they should have got whatever they could have when he was playing that getting paid WR money shit.

 

50 TDs and almost 5k yards in 5 seasons says otherwise. Who can blame dude for wanting to get paid? He was just doing what his agent advised and anyone in his place would have done the same thing. Dude also gutted it out in at least 8 games with a shoulder injury last year. That's why his production was down.

That said, I don't hate the move. Just don't understand why it was to a conference rival. Or why they're keeping other players that they overpaid but who underperformed. (Jordan, Bunkley, ect)

 

The last time he was tough was the loss to the 49'ers in the playoffs. Since then that has been missing...

 

Theory, Saints brain trust is going scorched earth to devalue brand ahead of impending Benson legal battle.

 

scorched earth, yes. reasoning because of scorched performances last year. sean payton not the most patient guy plus he gets another pawn in the draft where offensive minds like to rebuild. he needs to let someone else pick the running backs, safeties and cornerbacks, however.

 

Still picturing that crazy bitch widow owner from Major League.