Last night was a massive 
night in terms of activity for the New Orleans Saints’ front office. A number of moves were made in solidifying their 2011 roster. Most notable was that the Saints signed mammoth defensive tackle Shaun Rogers to a 1 year contract worth $4 million. According to Jason La Canfora of NFL Network, Rogers turned down offers of $6 million a year to sign with the Saints, a clear indication that he wants to be in New Orleans. Rogers posted two things on twitter since the signing: “It’s official WHO DAT NATION here I come…” and “it’s abt a chance to win…it’s not all $$$ related”. You’ll notice his twitter account is tastefully named “QB Coma”. Rogers, at 31, is a premiere run stopper in the league. He registered two sacks last season and has 37.5 for his career, though, so while he’s big and primarily a run stuffer he’s got incredibly quick feet for his size and he can also provide pressure up the middle on passing downs. I can only imagine how devastating of a 1-2 punch he and Sedrick Ellis could be. The Saints moved up from 25th in run defense in 2009 to 16th in run defense last year. It’s safe to assume Rogers will only help that ranking to continue to move in the right direction. Rogers is pretty durable (he’s missed 19 games in 10 seasons) and at 6’4″ and 350lbs it’s safe to say he’s a load to move. As WWL reporter Jim Henderson mentioned, though, Rogers does come with some baggage. He’s labelled as having character issues, and there’s no doubt that’s the biggest question mark along maybe with his age as the Saints try to mold him into their way of doing things. That said, there’s no question that he’s a huge talent, and if healthy and provided he keeps his weight under control he can make a major impact on the Saints’ defense.
That wasn’t even close to the only move the Saints made last night…
Kicker Garrett Hartley, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, has completed a 5 year contract extension to keep him with the Saints. Schefter claims that deal should be finalized today. That means Hartley will be the kicker for the Saints for some time to come and I can’t say how relieved it makes me to finally have some stability at that position.
Finally, the following restricted free agents were tendered (meaning they were offered one year contracts):
Remi Ayodele
Lance Moore (2nd round tender)
Carl Nicks (1st round tender)
Pierre Thomas (2nd round tender)
Jermon Bushrod (2nd round tender)
Jeff Charleston
Usama Young (3rd round tender)
David Thomas
Roman Harper (1st round tender)
Because the CBA is set to expire and the terms of a new CBA could change restricted free agency drastically, these contract offers could in all likelihood be meaningless. Unless, of course, any of these players decide to sign their tenders. My guess is their agents are advising them against it. At the very least, though, it offers the Saints some protection while they wait to see how the CBA plays out. The round tender listed above means that the Saints would get that level of compensation should the players listed sign with another team. I didn’t list the tender for some people because that has not yet been reported. THIS ARTICLE does a good job of explaining the whole restricted free agent signing process.
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