Telling time where to go, what to do
October 6, 2015
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October 8, 2015
I remember sitting at the Manning Passing Academy on July 13, 2012 when the news finally broke to the public. Drew Brees had avoided a training camp hold-out and had signed a five-year, $100 million contract with the Saints.
It was hysteria. The media, many employed in the New Orleans market, scrambled to get their hands on the story. Others, like myself, stayed in the background and watched everything play out.
The Brees contract extension was a no-brainer at that time. It was met with 100 percent approval by everyone in the city of New Orleans and even the state of Louisiana. There’s no debate. The quarterback was the architect of the Saints only-ever Super Bowl title, and he was still at the peak of his game.
The team had to give him that much money. It had no choice. The right move was made.
But as I got in my car and left the Manning Passing Academy on that day, I stopped to pump gas at a small gas station in Thibodaux.
When I did, an elderly man pulled me aside. He claimed to be a lifelong Saints fan. We talked, and the topic of Brees’ contract came up. He told me that he liked the move, but offered me advice as I walked away.
He told me that I better enjoy covering the team now, because the final few seasons of Brees’ hefty deal would get ugly – in more ways than one.
Flash forward to the present.
The old man was right.
The Saints, as we know them, are done, and Brees’ contract and future is at the center of all of the conversations regarding what went wrong.
Since signing Brees to his new deal, Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis has been on a tight leash. When you have a $100 million quarterback, you have to invest in penny stocks on a lot of other positions throughout the roster to make ends meet.
But since giving the fat check to the quarterback, just about everything else that Loomis has touched has rusted and corroded.
And now that Brees isn’t at the peak of his career and needs more help to succeed, he’s left empty-handed and with a roster that greatly lags behind the powers in the NFC.
Let us start with the NFL Draft.
Since winning the Super Bowl in 2009, the Saints have drafted almost 30 players – 28 to be exact. Just six of those 28 players remain on the team today, and none of the surviving players would be considered by fans as elite.
The team’s 20 percent retention rate is among the worst in the NFL.
Since giving Brees the big contract, the team has gotten even worse in its evaluation of talent. In 2013, New Orleans picked Kenny Vaccaro with the No. 15 overall pick. Vaccaro is decent, but nothing special. He hasn’t moved the meter in any way for the organization. You’d expect more from a first-round pick.
The gem of the class was in the third-round with now-starting left tackle Terron Armstead. He’s a keeper. But the rest of the five-player class is either off the team or insignificant.
In 2014, it was a disaster – one of the worst NFL Draft classes of all-time. Loomis traded up to No. 20 to get Brandin Cooks, who is a solid playmaker, but too small to ever be a true No. 1 receiver.
The rest of the class is all either hurt, not in the NFL anymore or are with other teams – a scrap heap that contains trash like cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste, linebacker Khairi Fortt, always-injured safety Vinnie Sunseri and linebacker Ronald Powell.
To have six picks and only net Cooks out of it is a pretty bad look – especially when you’re cap-strapped and need to make every, single last draft pick count to improve your roster.
The Saints 2015 draft class was OK, and the team hit on a few of their picks. But the jury is still out regarding whether any of those guys will be All-Pro players or even really solid players like Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills – two of the guys shipped away to stockpile the selections.
The Saints haven’t drafted very well, and it’s hurt.
About the only thing worse has been Loomis’s judgment in free agency.
Since inking Brees to his new deal, the Saints have squeezed every last cent out of owner Tom Benson’s pockets, remaining active in free agency – even with nonexistent cap room.
The team’s slashed and burned its roster depth, releasing or trading countless contributors to make room for the so-called big splash players.
But the problem is that none of the moves have panned out. Jairus Byrd is a bust. He’s been paid a king’s ransom to be injured. Brandon Browner is pretty awful as well. Most advanced metrics rank him as the worst starting cornerback in the NFL so far this season. C.J. Spiller made the game-winning play in Sunday’s win, but was an expensive non-factor in the first three games of the season.
The Saints keep kicking the can down the road, moving bonuses and cutting veterans, but at some point, you’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The end of the road has arrived, and the team’s roster doesn’t cut it anymore.
And with no money to make it better in the offseason, it’s a pretty bad situation all around.
That guy at the gas station was right.
Sure, New Orleans beat my Cowboys without all of its best players. Let the masses rejoice.
But I’m a realist. And anyone else who is, too, can see that the final few years of No. 9’s deal will be tough for Black and Gold fans to stomach. •
