Now that Browner’s career as a New Orleans Saint has come to a both horrific and abrupt end, we have to ask the depressing question. Is he the worst free agent ever in the history of the New Orleans Saints? I actually worked on this topic back in 2013 and came up with a list of the 10 worst free agent signings in Saints history at the time. Since then there’s been Browner, Jairus Byrd, C. J. Spiller and a few others that could be added to this list. The old list, though, has a mistake. Heath Shuler was acquired via trade, not free agency. I think it’s undeniable that Shuler is the worst player in Saints history, but unfortunately I made a mistake and he doesn’t belong on that list and in this topic of “worst free agent signing”. Jason David is another guy that belongs on this list. At first, I didn’t include him because the Saints gave up a draft pick as compensation to get him. It felt like a “trade”, but they went through Restricted Free Agency to acquire him.
To me, the only guys that belong in this discussion are Browner, David, Albert Connell and Dale Carter. So which one of these four is the worst of all time? I’d include Spiller, and maybe Byrd, but at this point Byrd is still on the team and could have a productive season. Ditto Spiller, and while Spiller was miserable this year he at least won a game by himself in overtime and didn’t see the field enough to really hurt the team. Browner killed the team with significant screw ups every single game.
David was garbage, constantly burned, and the draft pick really hurts… but he had 8 interceptions over two seasons. There were times he made some nice plays. He also lasted two seasons. Based on that, I don’t think you can say he was worse than Browner. Browner was the worst player on one of the worst defenses of all time, and has nothing statistically positive to show for it. He had the most penalized season in NFL history and when he wasn’t assaulting people on the field, he was giving up huge plays.
With Carter and Connell, on the other hand, it’s less obvious. At least Browner was semi ok in the locker room. He had his high temper tiffs and sideline spats, sure, but it’s been long noted he’s a good teammate that stays after practice to help younger players develop. And at least he saw the field all season. Connell was given a 5 year $13 million contract (which at the time was enormous) to catch 12 passes in 11 games. He was a locker room cancer and even stole $4,000 in cash from Deuce McAllister’s locker.
Dale Carter was a huge disaster too because of how dumb the signing was. Per my post in 2013:
Dale Carter was the crowning jewel of Jim Haslett’s free agent signings and the staff constantly talked about him being a “shut down corner” that cut the field in half and completely changed the game for the Saints in a good way. Carter has a huge question mark, though, because of his life history with substance abuse that had landed him in rehab and even jail countless times. There is no doubt that in his prime when he was right, though, he was elite. In two years with the Saints he had just 1 interception and 15 games played, some missed due to injury and others due to testing positive for alcohol (the NFL had a zero tolerance policy due to his number of failed drug tests). He had originally signed a 7 year, $28 million deal with the Saints. He was suspended indefinitely at one point for having traces of alcohol in his system.
At no time when he played did he resemble the player he once was. That alcohol test fail, by the way, came right after he signed the contract in celebration of his new signing bonus. I’ll also remember Carter for covering Randy Moss against the Vikings when the Saints were a win away from making the playoffs on a final drive, and him getting roasted for the final score which would cost the Saints the game. They’d end up not getting into the postseason.
To me, I’d list Browner at #3, behind Connell and Carter. It’s close though. What say you?
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