Posts tagged: drew brees

Saints Franchise Brees. Nicks, Colston Likely To Hit Market

March 3, 2012, by 6 comments

For the past year, quarterback Drew Brees and the Saints have been attempting to negotiate a contract to keep their elite passer in New Orleans. Today, overshadowed by the revelation of the Saints dirty scheming which has absolutely infuriated me and opened old wounds I thought were stitched tightly, it was reported by Jay Glazer of Fox Sports that Drew Brees was given the franchise tag and will remain in New Orleans (or, in other words, the two parties were unable to come to an agreement).

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Get this stupid news concerning this dirty team, which we all hate right now, off of my favorite Vikings blog!” Hold on a second, because in a roundabout way, this concerns the Vikings as well.

By franchising Brees, the Saints are in bad shape with their salary cap. I guess they’re in better shape than they would be had they actually worked out a contract, but it still isn’t looking good for them. The Saints will only have around 6 million left in cap room after using the franchise tag (maybe they can find some wiggle room in their bounty fund?). This shortage of funds will make it difficult (nearly impossible) for the Saints to retain some of their other big name free agents. More specifically, guard Carl Nicks and wide receiver Marques Colston will likely hit the open market and both players have been mentioned in various Vikings circles as players they could/should be targeting in free agency. Wide reciever Robert Meachem could become a free agent as well.

Carl Nicks would be a great addition and instant upgrade to the Vikings offensive line. If he were coupled with Matt Kalil, dare I say, we could almost overnight have one of the better offensive lines in the league.

Robert Meachem on the other hand is a little harder to gauge. Was he the product of less coverage due to the group of elite receivers around him? Did Drew Brees just make him look good? Could he really excel as a #1 receiver? These are all questions that would need to be addressed. But if the price is right, I imagine the Vikings could entertain picking up Colston.

Another issue, in light of the news of the Saints perverse bounty system, is whether or not the Vikings would want anyone from New Orleans. Granted, the potential free agents mentioned above are on offense and the Saints transgressions were by players and staff on defense (as far as we know). Still though, you have to consider that it could weigh into the team’s decision.

I wonder, if Colston or Nicks were to be Vikings when we play New Orleans again in the future, would the Saints put a bounty on them? Wouldn’t surprise me…

Franchise Tags And How They Affect Us

March 3, 2012, by 1 comment

It has been known for quite some time that the Vikings would not be using their franchise tag this offseason, but they are still potentially affected by the process.

You can check out Vikings Gab for complete updates on who has been tagged so far, but I want to touch on a few specific decisions made by other clubs and how they might affect the Vikings in free agency.

DREW BREES, QB, SAINTS

Vikings fans should be glad about the fact that the Saints were unable to strike a long-term deal with their record breaking quarterback.  If they had done a deal with Brees then they could have tagged guard Carl Nicks or receiver Marques Colston.  Both Nicks and Colston would appear like attractive targets for the Vikings this March, and at the very least their presence will help saturate the market a little more.

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Hurry Up And Punish Them

March 2, 2012, by 5 comments

New Orleans is the center of the latest, greatest controversy in the NFL as it has been uncovered by an NFL investigation that the Saints, led by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, paid bounties out to players on defense for injuring opponents.  Brett Favre, not to anyone’s surprise, was obviously a target during the 2009 NFC Championship game.

Now, I’m really not that surprised, shocked, and quite honestly not all that upset.

Bounties have long been rumored to be a part of the NFL, and the Saints were just dumb enough to get caught.  I think bounties are likely an unspoken truth similar to taping opponents signals (spygate) and tampering just prior to free agency.

Still, being dumb enough to get caught partaking in such a barbaric practice means you must be punished.  Rumor has it that punishments could include cash fines, suspensions, and the loss of draft picks.

I have a better idea, but the league needs to act fast.

Take away their right to use a franchise tag this year.  If you do that, then Drew Brees might just hit the open market, which would surely doom the franchise to years of awful play at the quarterback position.

There, I said it.