adam

Lofton and Williams gone. Knighton now has one less place to go to. Hopefully that drives down the price a little.

I hear TB as well (for the first pick). Brees would have Jackson and Evans to throw to.

I think it was for a multitude of reasons. Redundant skill set with Alshon, cap space, team chemistry, dedication to football (ie tv show), among other things.

You make like a #2 WR is not a starter. You draft BPA, which gives you the best chance to find that HoFer. Also, having only BPA to pick could allow us to trade down (CLE) and pick up some extra picks.

PFF did rank him very low, but it will really depend on what we are bringing him in for.

Yeah, we really can go BPA. I would be happy with Cooper or White. Royal was ranked 43rd out of 110 WRs in 2014.

Also, Rolle is a team and locker room leader, which will help stabilize everything, even if it is only for a year or two. Like you said, he could come in and help with the young guys (possibly a high draft pick) and we wouldn't have to rush them into starting. Rolle has been a model of consistency and durability throughout his career. He has only missed 1 game in the last 9 seasons and has averaged 86 tackles and 3 INTs per season over that span.

Kyle Long is hilarious, his new Twitter avatar:

Yeah, I just did defense as that has been the focus. On offense, I would love Wisniewski, but don't know if we have the cap space.

A 7th is almost a throw-away pick anyway. There are more UDFA's that make it than 7th rounders. Most players don't want to even be drafted in the 7th, as they would rather go undrafted and pick their spot. To me this is not a big deal at all. To me, all indications were that we would've cut him without an offer (just like Andre Johnson was cut), but we at least got a 5th rounder back (which we didn't have before). Houston got nothing for Johnson.

Olsen would still be on this team if we were catering to Cutler.

Actually he got out before the dumpster fire caught the double wide on fire. I actually applaud him for getting out before it all came tumbling down (timing is everything) and from his interviews, he clearly won't make the same mistakes. I see that as a learning point, he has first hand knowledge on what the Saints did and how they got to this point, so he can discuss with Cliff and other staff to prevent us from ever getting to that point.

Is Chip Kelly playing Madden 2010? So they swap QBs and the Eagles get a 2015 5th-round pick, and 2016 3rd/4th-round picks. Rams get a 2015 4th-round pick and 2016 2nd-round pick. The 2nd round pick alone is worth more than the 3rd/4th/5th that the Eagles got (unless they win the SB making the Rams take pick#64). Either way a 2nd and a 4th is more valuable than a 3rd, 4th, and 5th. and if I am reading this correctly, Phillly just took on $11 mil in cap (unless they cut him?). The initial report was Philly swapping 1st's with STL, which would make sense for Mariotta, but they actually have worse draft picks, less cap space, and a worse QB.

From Rolle's Twitter: His last tweet was him on a plane (enroute to Chicago).

With McPhee, Royal, and Rolle pending contracts. I would still like to see a few more guys brought in from this pool of defensive candidates (for the right price): Safety: #28 Rahim Moore - S (25) #88 Ron Parker - S (27) Cornerback: #27 Chris Culliver - CB (27) #46 Perrish Cox - CB (28) Linebacker: #49 Curtis Lofton - ILB (28) #59 Mason Foster - ILB (26) Defensive/Nose Tackle: #16 Terrance Knighton - DL (29) #29 Dan Williams - DL (28) # - NFL FA Ranking If we could bring in a couple of more guys from these groups (wishful thinking), I think we would be in great position going into the draft. I was hoping for 4x new starters via free agency on defense, and 2x from draft (first 3 rounds). Then we would only have to start 5 guys from last year's team. Pre-Draft: DLine: Houston/Knighton/Ratliff/Ferguson/Dunn/Allen LB: McPhee/Young/Foster/Jones/Bostic/Bass/Washington/SMC CB: Fuller/Culliver/Jennings/Louis-Jean/Hurst S: Moore/Rolle/Mundy/Vereen

They are all visits, but highly likely based on comments.

Royal is 28 (29 in May), and would immediately be one of the best slot WR's we've had in a long time.

In 2008, Eddie Royal caught 91 passes for 980 yards, 5 TDs, career-highs in receptions and yards. Cutler also had a career high in yards that year.

From Rolle's twitter:

Damn

Love it, slot guy, history with Cutler and offense.

Official trade details.

Insane deal, what are the Saints doing?