re: Bryant McKinnie says Saints interested in him

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IMO the highest position of need is LT. Right now we have Charlie Brown who cannot be counted on for a whole season. This position is supposed to protect our biggest investment and best player. I don't care if we go with McKinney or get a LT via the draft but we better get one.

While a pass rusher, CB or LB would be nice, they are 2nd on the needs list as far as I am concerned.

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You are going to pay a higher price for a younger player. I think the only way we get 2 or 3 more impact players out of FA is if we cheapen out at LT a bit. I think McKinnie is the best "bang for our buck" type of move still on the table.

I think we should draft a replacement this year, but we still need consistency at the position to keep Brees' neck in tact this year.

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It amazes me that you are the first person to point this out. We have no LT's, and 2 young, potentially great OLB's, but people actually think OLB is a bigger need than LT. People know how I feel, but I'll say again, I really don't get how little confidence "Saints fans" have in Junior and Tez. So little confidence that they would rather a young, unproven player from another team who is actually a year older than our guys.

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I've been preaching the same thing since the season ended. I agree with everyone that Tez and Junior are inexperienced, but they are at least suited to play the position. We have no on currently on the roster suited to play LT, including Brown.

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McKinnie would be a great acquisition for the Saints but don't you think he will want big money?

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He's not getting big money.

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He's not getting big money.

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I only asked that because he declined the Ravens offer and they wanted to keep him.

Seems like he's out for a payday.

A starting NFL LT should get paid IMO.

With all the 'Saints are interested' rumors who the hell knows.
Its almost impossible to get a accurate dollar amount to what we have left to spend or who they wish/can cut.
We have sooooo many needs debate is just so easy to do these days.
I think we all could agree to the fact that its just too damn quite.

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If Tez and Junior are so great, why didn't they dominate last year

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As opposed to Victor Butler, who had the same amount of sacks as Tez? Tez and Junior actually were great in the snaps they got. And to answer your question, they didn't dominate because both are small pass rushers better suited to play in a 3-4 lol.

ETA: Oh, and they didn't play OLB last year, so what you said makes no sense. Fact is, their size and skill sets make them a better fit for this new defense.

that makes sense for keeping Vilma as an ILB I spose too. He still is pretty decent as a cover LB.

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It makes no sense that people are judging Tez and Junior's ability to transition by using a skill set that none of the top pass rushers are judged by

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The same goes for judging them to be great OLBs when they have played very few meaningful minutes. Who knows if they will excel or get exposed with the 3-4. If I were a head coach, I would definitely be trying to get an OLB in free agency or the draft so if only one of the two transition well, then you have your two starters.

Back to the original topic of this thread. The same goes for LT. You have a few guys who can probably play the position, but I would rather a veteran in free agency so I can sleep at night.

If you have been listening to Sean Payton recently, he says the two things that are keeping him up at night are the positions of LT and OLB.

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The same goes for judging them to be great OLBs when they have played very few meaningful minutes

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It's not the same at all. Again, you are judging their transition based on a skill that no other good pass rusher at that position is judged by.

I'm judging their transition based on the fact that the skill set both have shown to excel at is the main thing that teams look at when switching players to that position.

So how are these things the same?

I feel like the stuff I'm saying is common sense, but then people come in and twist my words or say stuff I never said. Not once in all my defending of Junior and Tez did I ever say Saints shouldn't bring in a free agent or draft an OLB.

Is it really that hard for people to understand that those 2 young guys have the exact skill set that every single other player has that gets switched to 3-4 OLB? Even someone like Mingo, who I think can be special at that position, doesn't have any experience there.

Just about every guy coming out of college that gets switched there doesn't have experience doing it. That's what baffles me about people being so down on our 2 guys because of experience. It just doesn't really make any sense. Guess I'll just come back when Junior and Tez are wreaking havoc on opposing qb's.