Players Who the Saints Should Keep or CUT After the Season
By Bob Rose
Nov 17, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandon Coleman (16) lines up during the game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers defeated the Saints 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The NFL, like many sports, is a league whose teams — like the New Orleans Saints — are in a constant “ebb and flow.”
No team has the same look from year to year, and ownership on the stronger organizations are constantly looking ahead in ways to improve their teams. In season injuries and poor play often reveal just how effective all of their off-season transactions have been.
The New Orleans Saints are currently (4-6), and facing an uphill climb to avoid missing the playoffs for the 3rd consecutive year.
Poor drafting and disastrous free agent signings in recent seasons have left the team either largely devoid of talent in some areas, or without the depth capable of handling the inevitable injuries that occur during the year.
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There is some indication that the last two drafts are changing this recent trend, however, and the Saints have also fared a bit better in free agency as well.
This team still has holes, and is alarmingly thin in areas of their lineup, but have definitely shown progress.
The Saints are building a strong core of young and extremely talented players, and contractual decisions will need to be made on them soon enough.
In the meantime, it the responsibility of the front office to continue to add (or subtract when necessary) to their talented group.
The team is still lacking in some areas, evidence to the fact that they have lost six of their 10 games.
Just yesterday morning, Big Easy Believer Editor Barry Hirstius wrote an article outlining the fact that the Saints will have 18 players whose contracts expire at the conclusion of the 2016 season, and highlighted some players who may not be back in a Saints uniform.
This morning, I would like to take a look at some player moves that I believe New Orleans should make after this current 2016 season ends, and before turning their focus onto the off-season and the League’s Free-Agency signing period, which begins March 9th.
And as I look at each specific player, I will render a verdict — on whether or not the Saints should KEEP or CUT that player — from the team’s 53-man roster moving forward into 2017.
Starting first, with a fan favorite…..