You knew it could happen but thought, “Nah maybe they’ll take another route….like a pay cut.”
But just like the coaching purge that happened a few months ago, the New Orleans Saints are proving they will make whatever moves they deem will right their present lackluster state of affairs.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Saints throw huge money and multi-year contract at Player X who is on the rise or proven to be a playmaker.
Then Player X either has a total personality breakdown, hidden injury history, or doesn’t fit and you’re back to square one on the roster and on the hook for millions of dollars.
Some teams only have it happen once in a blue moon but for others like the Saints, it’s happened in the past several seasons.
News came on Tuesday from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that the team would be releasing safety Jairus Byrd after three incomplete years in New Orleans and put a huge punctation on their current lack of success in several aspects but mainly free agency.
I say incomplete because due to injuries and recovery from injuries, Byrd only had the 2016 season where he really shined leaving the Saints front office and fans asking, “What if?”
Byrd was brought in after many, including myself, ran former safety and 2009 first round pick Malcolm Jenkins out on a rail and praised the 6 yr./$54 million dollar contract(I cry looking back) while scoffing at the Philadelphia Eagles with their “good luck” signing of Jenkins to a paltry 3 yr./$15.5 million dollar deal.
Memes and pictures of Jenkins shoulder whiffing on tackles including those in the 2011 NFC Division game were posted on social media for all to scorn and mock.
Yeah…….
Fast forward to 2017 and Jenkins has posted some of the highest numbers of his career as an Eagle including eight interceptions in just three years with half of those being returned for touchdowns while Byrd managed three interceptions in his campaign.
Jenkins looked like a player reborn in 2014 , looking faster and more physical, with the Eagles rewarding him with a four year extension for $35 million in 2016.
Meanwhile Byrd took the Benjamin Buttons aging process where he was “27 years old…but I play a lot olduh.”
Instead of “What if?”, I’ll ask “how?”, how did the Saints let a player like Jenkins walk for less money and downgrade at the position for more cash?
And yes I know he had the fluke knee injury but that was after the “oh by the way he has to have back surgery” before training camp even started followed by secretive hoodie workouts to keep everyone from finding out his rehabilitation process was not, as head coach Sean Payton likes to say, “ahead of schedule.”
NOLA.com’s Larry Holden shared a tidbit in an article late Tuesday on Byrd that I found particularly interesting in the realm that while the Saints may have been all in on Byrd, he wasn’t necessarily all in with the Saints or even New Orleans for that matter.
This is a short snippet of what Larry had to say that raised my eyebrows:
“My impression of Byrd was that he chased the money to New Orleans. I can’t blame the guy for doing so given the short lifeline for an NFL player. In his initial conference call with media, he didn’t sound like someone who knew much about the team he was joining.
I know every player doesn’t comprehend the ins and outs of his new team. Something seemed off with this union to me right away, though.”
In an exchange between myself, Larry, and The Saints Nation’s editor/lead writer Andrew Juge, I offered that Byrd seemed to be doing just what was alluded to in the article in chasing a big contract and not so much wanting to be part of a team on the rise and Larry responded with:
@G_Higg @AndrewJuge Gene has it. You would have thought he would have been excited to join a contender. Didn’t seem that way on that call.
— Larry Holder (@LarryHolder) March 1, 2017
Byrd never seemed to truly embed himself into New Orleans, the team, or the culture of either while Jenkins on the other hand during his time in New Orleans embraced every bit of it.
He still comes back to the area to do work through his Malcolm Jenkins Foundation and proclaimed to NOLA.com’s Josh Katzenstein he “still loves New Orleans” and was planning on making it back for Mardi Gras this year.
And there is no doubting that the Saints missed Jenkins leadership and fiery speeches compared to Byrd’s more laid back approach in the sense of what I like to call “we’re all professionals and should all know what we need to do”.
The team may get $7.8 million by deeming Byrd a post-June 1st release but now with a hole at safety, assuming they run the 3 safety set plus you need depth behind Vonn Bell and Kenny Vaccaro, the Saints will have to spend a good bit of that to plug it back up.
Hindsight may be 20/20 but when it comes to free agency the Saints just haven’t had a clear vision in what really fits what they want to do.
Hopefully in about a week the Saints can start to change the punctuation of the upcoming season from a question mark to an exclamation of success.
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