ESPN’s Bill Barnwell rips Saints offseason
From a New Orleans Saints’ fan’s standpoint, it’d be easy to consider their offseason somewhat successful, given the very little cap room they had.
The team was able to sign proven tight end Coby Fleener to replace a much-older Ben Watson. They also beefed up their defensive line by signing James Laurinaitis and Nick Fairley to cheap one-year deals.
But their biggest prize was the 12th-overall pick: Rookie pass-rush sensation Sheldon Rankins, who could easily become a franchise player. But despite all of this, it wasn’t enough to impress ESPN’s Bill Barnwell.
He listed his grades for all of the NFC South teams in the offseason, and the Saints received a harsh D+ grade.
The only thing he praised was beefing up the pass-rush, which really was their main concern in the offseason, but once he discussed what went wrong, the criticism really took off.
He surely was no fan of the Fleener signing
“If anything, given what Benjamin Watson did last year when moved into the primary role, the Saints should see Sean Payton and Drew Brees as a blessing and try to find a useful, athletic tight end on the cheap.
Instead, they gave Fleener a five-year, $36 million deal with $20.9 million due over the first three years.”
Barnwell also noted the failure to extend Drew Brees, though that really shouldn’t be considered a problem. They’ll re-sign him eventually and there should be zero concern on that front.
He finally brought up that they “tried to go all-in for Josh Norman.”
They didn’t even sign him though, case closed.
Overall, it’s tough for me to consider their offseason a failure. Getting a new defensive coordinator in Dennis Allen should automatically bring improvement. Adding three veteran pass-rushers is huge. Fleener should be able to contribute right away.
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