re: Strief signs 5 year deal. Updated with contract details

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As much as everyone bashed him during the season, I remember you always posting him ranking as pretty much the best RT in the league all last year.

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Thank you, you're too kind.

An OL is hard to critique piecemeal because it acts as one.
But it became clear that there were some issues last season.
Brown was just crap, Evans had a nagging injury the majority of the season, DLP couldn't step up, Grubbs was having trouble compensating for both guys around him.

As long as Evans is healthy, Armstead is playing, and Strief is around...we could realistically get away with DLP next year.
But I still want an upgrade.

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I still want an upgrade.

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cool thing with that is it can be accomplished with a 2nd to 4th Rd pick!

always liked pics of Strief & Sproles together



6'7" & 5'6" imagine if your 6' and you play a game with another guy that is 5'.

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We need a center badly.

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Agreed.

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cool thing with that is it can be accomplished with a 2nd to 4th Rd pick!

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Yup! That's why this draft is exciting. We can fill our biggest position of need in the mid rounds.

We're kicking the can for a push now. We'll deal with life after Brees when he is gone. Indy handled such transition okay.

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Indy got extremely lucky with their transition

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But is their FO as good as ours?
Tell me that, Sonny Crocket.

It also may show that Brees plans on playing for another 5 years or so. I think the competitor in him will keep him going for another 5 or so if he is in good health and a championship caliber team is around him.

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But is their FO as good as ours?
Tell me that, Sonny Crocket.

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we were pretty bad before '06

I think post-brees we'll be fine with a terror of a defense though

Walterfootball's assessment on re-signing Strief

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Saints re-sign OT Zach Strief (5 years, $20.5M; $8.5M guaranteed): C- Grade

I'm not a fan of this contract at all, and the only reason the Saints aren't getting a D or lower is because they are helping Drew Brees' protection. The thing is, you can find right tackles anywhere, especially in this loaded draft class. Strief is a mediocre lineman who was completely abused by Chris Long in the Week 15 loss to the Rams. He played well at other times, but it really wouldn't be that difficult to replace (or even upgrade) him. Also, Strief turns 31 in September, so New Orleans is paying a bit for past production. It's likely that Strief's skill will begin to erode soon. Comment on Free Agent Signing Grades below.

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This doesn't get an A+ from me, but I definitely disagree here. First of all, whenever they have mentioned Strief this offseason as a FA, they always discuss the Rams game. While that is true, the whole O-line got man handled that game, and Chris Long is no slouch. They fail to mention his pass protection in the 15 other regular season games.

The whole "this draft is loaded with RTs" is BS to me. Do they have a lot of players capable of the position? I'm sure they do. But there is no guarantee any of them will be worth a shite. We all know Brees has about 3-5 years left of above-average play left in him, we are obviously in a win-now mode. Why leave it up to a rookie to protect his right side? The top 2 OTs in last year's draft started a RT last year, and both struggled throughout the season.

To me, their assessment shows they only watched 1 or 2 games of ours last year, and based their grade off of that. I'd this a B, but maybe I'm just biased.

yeah, Walter can be a blowhard sometimes.

the Rams have one of the best D-lines in the league. It was Charles Brown who got pulled from the game but apparently Walt thinks otherwise.

the one time where I remember being down on Strief was when Ahmad Brooks made that hit on Brees.

but again, Brooks is one of the better players at his position so there is really no need to be a nitpicker.

What a bunch of horseshite.