STAFFING
Despite a league-worst 1-15 record, the Saints owner Tom Benson and GM Mickey Loomis remained committed to Head Coach Haslett and his coordinators, re-signing Coach Everest, who signed a two-year, 360k contract to return as Special Teams Coordinator. With Haslett, Offensive Coordinator McCarthy, and Defensive Coordinator Venturi all in the final year of their contracts, the Saints better turn things around quickly if those three coaches hope to retain their jobs.RETIRED PLAYERS John Carney really showed his age as the season progress, his accuracy and leg strength dwindling. The 40-year old kicker retired, and not many Saints fans are sad to see him go. Sam Gash was ineffective as a lead blocker for Deuce McAllister, and was the second starter from last year's team to retire. Backup running back Lamar Smith and center Jerry Fontenot also announced their retirements.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY
The Saints offered backup strong safety Mel Mitchell a 1-year, $450k restricted free agent contract. New Orleans was concerned that either Dallas or Houston would be interested in acquiring Mitchell, but that was not the case.FREE AGENCY, PART ONE
Starters Boo Williams, Chad Setterstrom, Victor Riley and Deveron Harper were among the ten players with expired contracts that were released at this time. Many were sad to see Harper go, he had developed into a solid fifth defensive back. Despite not recording a single sack all of last year, the Saints re-signed defensive end Darren Howard to a four-year contract. The team's leading tackler Darrin Smith had made it public that he wanted a new contract, which the Saints were more than happy to oblige him with. Giving into Smith's demands so easily would have serious consequences less than two months later.NFL DRAFT
With the worst record in the league comes the top pick in the draft. Unfortunately for New Orleans, none of the players on their board were rated high enough to be worthy of the first overall pick in the draft. New Orleans swapped first round picks with Pittsburgh and also acquired fullback Dan Krieder, consider to be one of the best blocking fullbacks in the league. Now sitting with the thirteenth overall pick, the Saints selected Luther Wade from Fresno State with the pick. On the second day of the draft the Saints again traded with the Steelers, this time acquiring cornerback Chidi Iwuoma for a sixth-round pick.
The Saints draft was heavily criticized. The USA TODAY NEWSPAPER graded the Saints draft class as a D-. Three of the Saints' six draft picks failed to reach contract agreements with the team, and were released into the free agent market. Luther Wade signed a four-year, $4.50m contract, while both fifth-round pick left guard Al Buckley and seventh-round free safety Terry Jones signed 1-year, $500k contracts.
PICK
NAME
COLLEGE
POS
OVR
HT/WT
13th
Luther Wade
Fresno State
TE
70
6-2/258
129th
Al Buckley
Missouri
LG
64
6-3/314
193rd
Terry Jones
Notre Dame
FS
62
6-0/205
FREE AGENCY, PART TWO
As was stated above, the Saints easily gave into middle linebacker Darrin Smith's demands for a new contract. With the linebacker position now set, Saints fans had to be upset when Baltimore Raven's middle linebacker Ray Lewis was allowed to test the free agent market. As one of the top defensive players in the league, Lewis would have immediately given hope to a unhappy fan base and would have improved the league's worst defense. However, the Saints had just invested several million dollars into the 34-year old Smith which effectively took them out of the bidding war for Lewis. Of course, the Saints will now see him twice a year as division rival Tampa Bay signed him.
One of the few major needs remaining was at placekicker, and three days into the signing period, the Saints came to terms with former Giants kicker Matt Bryant who agreed to a three-year, $2.00m contract. The Saints were hoping to sign a veteran quarterback like Mark Brunell or John Kitna, someone who could come in a compete with incumbent Aaron Brooks for the starting quarterback job, but by the fifth day, the top four free agent quarterbacks were already off the market. The top remaining quarterback was Tim Couch, who had been cut by the Packers in Training Camp last year. After four days of negotiating, Couch agreed to a five-year deal. Receivers Troy Edwards and Frank Sanders signed by the end of the second week of free agency, as had former Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham. In the final sixteen days, the Saints were the busiest team in free agency, signing four players, including rookie center Anthony Van Dyke.
