Rookie WR Edwards received multi-year contract from Panthers

The Carolina Panthers confirmed the value of rookie wide receiver Armanti Edwards by signing him to a three-year contract on Thursday, three months after they drafted the former Appalachian State star college player with a 89th overall pick. During the three months of observation, they got a great impression of the rookie’s versatility.


Aiming at putting on his favorite Saints jersey to join the champion team, Edwards worked hard at college to be an excellent quarterback. During his college football career, Edwards totally completed 768 of 1,180 passes for 10,392 yards and 74 touchdowns with 33 interceptions and rushed for 4,361 yards and 65 touchdowns on 755 carries, becoming the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and rush for more than 4,000 yards. However, the Saints did not show much favor in Edwards and let the Panthers get him in the middle of second round.

Despite Edwards’ great performance as a college quarterback, the Panthers decided to convert him into a wide receiver, so Edwards’ main job during offseason workouts was to learn catching balls. They seemed to be satisfied with the rookie’s smooth switch and is now planning to try him as a punt returner on special-teams in training camp.

QB Russell’s career is threatened by his off-field trouble

The former Oakland Raiders starting quarterback JaMarcus Russell recently added some more obstacles to his NFL future by getting arrested for possession of codeine. The former first overall draft pick had been already devaluated after being cut by the Raiders but still had chance to negotiate with some weak teams interested in his talents. However, the recent legal trouble just caused all teams to shy away.


According to recent reports, Russell attracted more concerns on his incompetence as a quarterback. Previously, there were still reports saying that he could have chance to put on Saints jersey if he was willing to play as backup to Drew Brees. But now the Saints definitely have crossed his name off from the list of their options in backup quarterback. Nevertheless, it does not necessarily mean the end of Russell’s football career.

Russell could follow the example of former Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, who also had drug issues but found refuge by joining a Canadian Football League. And it was reported that Russell has already attracted attention from a CFL team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who like to add Russell so that they could draw more attention and fans.

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.