Saints could name backup QB in July

By so far, the New Orleans Saints have not made any decision of the backup for starting quarterback Drew Brees. They want a veteran, experienced and humble quarterback for the role. Although they have a few options on their own roster, the team is still looking outside for more options.


However, as last season’s Super Bowl champion, the Saints are restricted by the NFL’s “final eight” rule for the uncapped year. So they will have to wait until July 22 before they can take actions with unrestricted free agents from other teams unless they allow another team to sign away one of their own restricted free agents. So at the moment, the backup role would be played by one of the three on-roster quarterbacks: second-year player Chase Daniel, rookie Sean Canfield and unrestricted free agent Mark Brunell. According to reports, the Saints are aiming at unrestricted free agents Josh McCown and Patrick Ramsey to sign when the signing restriction ends on July 22.

While Brunell is still negotiating for a new contract with the Saints and could take off his Saints jersey to sign with another team, second-year player Daniel is currently the top choice for the backup job and will get a lot of snaps in OTAS and minicamps. If he performs well and impresses the coaches enough before any stronger competitor comes in, he could be the new backup for Brees.

Saints RB Thomas could sign new contract soon

The latest reports said that the New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is near to a contract he has been asking for since beginning of the offseason. As a restricted free agent, he has yet to sign the tender offer from the Saints with the hope to get what matches his performance in last season.


Helping the Saints win their first Super Bowl title, Thomas is hoping for a multi-year contract instead of the one-year tender offer that may pay him only $1.68 million for 2010 season. As offensive guard Jahri Evans received a big seven-year contract from the clue last week, Thomas has been more optimistic about his own deal. Therefore, even though the team has not made their final decision, Thomas still put on his Saints jersey to participate in all the offseason workouts.

In the league, teams are always unwilling to pay high for running backs as it’s a risky move and they can always find replacement for current starters. In Saints case, they still have Reggie Bush even without Thomas. However, as they are willing to make Evans the highest-paid guard in the league, it is also possible for them to make big investment in Thomas. Stay tuned.

Injury issues caused OT Brown to fall out of first round

With the last picks of all rounds in the 2010 NFL draft, the New Orleans Saints made every decision carefully to make sure that they got the best from the remaining picks. So when they used the 64th overall, the last pick of the second round, to draft Southern Cal offensive lineman Charles Brown, they indeed had a good reason.


The Saints believe that Brown, who received no call from any team during the first round, should have been picked in higher round and it was really fortunate for the team to still have such a choice available on board by the end of second round. However, if the Saints had good reason to have the young player put on Saints jersey, other teams must also have good reasons not to choose him.

According to recent reports, injuries were the major reason that caused Brown to fall out of the first round. Some reports said that Brown had a minor knee injury and some others said he pulled a hamstring at the USC Pro Day. The latter speculation was somewhat proved by Trojans athletic department officials, who confirmed that Brown did pull up his hamstring while running the 40-yard dash on pro day but it did not seem serious at that time.

So it is for sure that Brown is indeed having some problem with his leg, but the Saints do not appear to care much about it. Perhaps other teams simply worried a bit too much about the injury, and now it’s the Saints who finally add a powerful weapon on their offense.

Saints added rookie DE Sharpe to roster

Remaining undrafted when the three-day 2010 NFL draft ended on Saturday afternoon, former Texas Tech defensive end Brandon Sharpe finally received an contract offer from the New Orleans Saints on Monday, joining his former teammate in the Red Raiders, offensive guard Brandon Carter.


Actually, Sharpe was previously to be picked in the first round as the ESPN had ranked him as the 22nd best defensive end in the draft. He indeed deserves the rank with a latest school record of the most sacks in a season he made in his last college season. Having one solo sack in 2008 season, Sharpe burst out with 15 sacks in 2009 season, with four solo sacks ruing the Nebraska game. He also had four two-solo-sack games last season. Besides, the 15 sacks that totaled for a loss of 104 yards also ranked the second most on a national basis.

Sharpe and Carter are expected to make their first appearance in New Orleans Saints jerseys next week, when the team’s three-day rookie minicamp started on May 7 and ended on May 9. Both rookies will try their best to impress the coaches with hope of getting playing time in preseason and regular season.