New Orleans Saints News & Rumors

Saints To Sign Matt Shaughnessy

The Saints will add a veteran defender to their front seven as training camp gets underway, as the club has agreed to terms LB/DE Matt Shaughnessy, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Terms of the deal haven’t been announced, but it’s likely for the veteran’s minimum."<strong

[RELATED: No progress between Saints, Drew Brees]

New Orleans has signed a number of experienced options to aid a defense that ranked among the worst in league history in 2016, having inked deals with James Laurinaitis, Craig Robertson, Nick Fairley, and Nathan Stupar over the offseason. And more recently, the Saints have agreed to terms with veterans such as Roman Harper, Darryl Tapp, C.J. Wilson, and — on offense — Hakeem Nicks. Given New Orleans’ tight cap situation, the team is somewhat forced to rely on low-cost additions (specifically, minimum salary benefit deals) to augment their roster.

Shaughnessy, 29, didn’t appear in the NFL last season after spending the first six years of his career with the Raiders and Cardinals. In 75 career games (48 starts), Shaughnessy has picked up 144 tackles, 18.5 sacks, four fumble recoveries, and three forced fumbles. The Saints have already gotten an up-close look at the veteran edge defender, having auditioned him in both May and June.

In other Saints news, the team worked out free agent cornerback Kevin White today, reports Josh Katzenstein of NOLA.com. White, an undrafted free agent in 2015, signed with the Falcons last summer but didn’t make Atlanta’s final roster.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Saints Sign Tony Hills, Waive Ryker Mathews

Hakeem Nicks On Signing With Saints

  • Between auditioning for the Saints in May and signing with them Wednesday, receiver Hakeem Nicks stayed on the team’s radar by texting head coach Sean Payton on a weekly basis, the 28-year-old said Friday (via Josh Katzenstein of NOLA.com). Some of those texts included workout videos, according to Nicks, which apparently paid off for the former Giant, Colt and Titan. “We were real familiar with him just because on two different occasions we had him in for workouts. Plus, he wouldn’t stop texting me,” commented Payton, who added that Hicks’ personality “could be infectious and help the room.”

Saints Notes: Brees, Edge Rushers

While extension talks between the Saints and future Hall of Famer Drew Brees haven’t yielded progress yet, the contract-year quarterback said Thursday that he harbors no ill will toward general manager Mickey Loomis (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “Just to clarify, nothing is adversarial. I have a great relationship with Mickey Loomis and have for my entire time here,” stated Brees. “We’ll see how this shakes out over the next month and a half.”

Brees reiterated Thursday that the start of the regular season is his deadline for contract negotiations, so the two sides won’t talk again until the end of the campaign if they don’t reach an agreement by Week 1. To place the franchise tag on Brees next offseason would cost the Saints $43.2MM, so that probably won’t be an option. The only choice, then, would be a multiyear deal, and Brees, 37, believes he’s capable of lasting for a while longer. “I don’t see any reason why I can’t play at the highest level for the next five years minimum,” commented Brees, who threw for 4,870 yards and 32 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 2015.

  • After failing to add an edge rusher through either free agency or the draft and losing Hau’oli Kikaha to a torn ACL, the Saints are left to hope at least one of Kasim Edebali, Obum Gwacham or Davis Tull emerges as a viable complement to Cameron Jordan, writes Larry Holder of NOLA.com. The 26-year-old Edebali is the most proven of the three in terms of sack production, having tallied five last season, though his overall play earned him a 103rd-place ranking among 110 qualifying edge defenders at Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Gwacham impressively picked up 2.5 sacks in just 97 snaps as a sixth-round rookie. Tull, meanwhile, didn’t get into a game last year after the Saints selected him in the fifth round of the draft. The Saints’ woeful defense finished a bottom-of-the-barrel 25th in the NFL in sacks last season (31), and nearly a third came from Jordan (10).

No Progress Between Saints, Drew Brees

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis confirmed Wednesday that the team and contract-year quarterback Drew Brees have not made any progress toward a long-term deal, though Loomis added that he’s open to discussions, according to Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. Brees revealed last week that the two sides last exchanged offers in March. The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer is set to count an NFL-leading $30MM against the Saints’ cap this year, and he’ll also rake in the league’s second-highest QB salary ($19.75MM).

If the Saints don’t sign Brees by the start of the regular season, which is the deadline the 16th-year man has set, retaining him in the offseason could be difficult. Because Brees has already been a franchise-tag recipient twice, it would cost the Saints $43.2MM to tag him in 2017, notes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. With the tag an unlikely option, free agency will become a realistic route for Brees to take if he and the Saints don’t work something out over the next several weeks.

Saints To Cut Vincent Brown With Injury Settlement

WEDNESDAY: The Saints will indeed release Brown with an injury settlement, per Josh Katzenstein of NOLA.com.

TUESDAY: The season is over before it began for Vincent Brown, as the Saints have placed the veteran wide receiver on injured reserve, according to Joel Erickson of the Advocate (Twitter link). Brown signed a one-year, minimum salary benefit contract with New Orleans a little over two months ago.Vincent Brown (Vertical)

[RELATED: Saints, Drew Brees haven’t negotiated in three months]

As Roster Resource indicates, the loss of Brown doesn’t do much to deplete a relatively deep Saints receiver corps, which is fronted by starters Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead. Former Ohio State pass-catcher Michael Thomas, chosen in the second round of the 2016 draft, is expected to man the slot during his rookie year, while New Orleans is still holding out hope that Brandon Coleman can contribute in some fashion. The club also boasts Reggie Bell and Kyle Prater further down the depth chart.

As well-stocked as the Saints are at receiver, they don’t necessarily need to add a free agent to make up for the loss of Brown, but there are certainly options available on the open market even after veteran Anquan Boldin — probably the best receiver who was still unsigned — agreed to a deal with the Lions earlier today. Three names that stand out are Hakeem Nicks, Denarius Moore, and Nathan Palmer, each of whom attended a May workout in New Orleans with Brown.

Brown, for his part, has been limited by injuries for much of his career, and he hasn’t posted a full season since 2013, when he caught 41 balls for the Chargers. If his current ailment isn’t serious, he could negotiate an injury settlement with the Saints, allowing him to be removed from the IR and reach free agency.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Saints To Sign Hakeem Nicks

Just over two months after working out free agent receiver Hakeem Nicks, the Saints have agreed to a one-year deal with the veteran, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN (Twitter link). Financial details are not yet available.

Hakeem Nicks

The Saints will be the fourth organization for the 28-year-old Nicks, who has spent time with the Giants, Colts and Titans. The Giants have been Nicks’ employer for the lion’s share of his career. New York selected the ex-North Carolina Tar Heel 29th overall in 2009 and he ended up playing there until 2013 and again last season. As a member of Big Blue, Nicks hauled in 318 catches and 27 touchdowns. None of those scores and just seven of those receptions came in 2015 for Nicks, who caught anywhere from 47 to 79 passes each season from 2009-13 and logged two 1,000-yard campaigns.

In between his two stints with the Giants, Nicks was a Colt in 2014, when he picked up 38 receptions and four TDs, and then briefly a Titan – with whom he didn’t crack the roster. All told, the 6-foot-1, 208-pounder has 92 appearances (67 starts), 356 grabs, 14.3 yards per catch and 31 TDs on his stat sheet.

For New Orleans, the addition of Nicks comes just one day after the team placed fellow wideout Vincent Brown on season-ending injured reserve. In the wake of that move, PFR’s Dallas Robinson listed Nicks as a logical target for the Saints. They agreed, apparently, and Nicks will now join a crowded receiving corps that includes Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead, second-round pick Michael Thomas, Brandon Coleman, Reggie Bell and Kyle Prater, as Roster Resource shows.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Saints Notes: Brees, Benson, Lewis

We learned yesterday that Drew Brees and the Saints have not discussed a new contract in the last three months, and Brees is therefore still on track to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2016 season (for which he currently carries a $30MM cap hit). Mike Triplett of ESPN.com believes both sides are being unduly stubborn, that they should be more eager to get something done, and that this past week–the last week before the start of training camp–would have been the perfect time for team and player to reach an accord assuring that Brees would remain in New Orleans for the rest of his career.

Of course, Triplett also maintains that Brees and the Saints could have tried harder to get this deal done prior to the start of free agency, when a reduction of Bress’ $30MM cap number would have been especially welcome. Brees has set the start of the regular season as his deadline for working out a new contract, and while Triplett understands the Saints’ hesitancy to hand out another mega-deal–after all, Brees is not getting any younger, and he has battled a series of nagging injuries in the past two years–he still thinks the future Hall-of-Famer is a safe bet to continue performing at a high level. Triplett does believe, however, that Brees should be willing to leave a little money on the table if that’s what it takes to get him a little extra security now and give the team a better chance to make one last championship run before he calls it a career.

Now let’s round up some more Saints-related news:

  • A federal judge has given Saints owner Tom Benson an additional 30 days to replace at least some of the team shares that he attempted to pull from his daughter and grandchildren with equitable assets, according to Greg LaRose of The Times-Picayune. Benson had agreed to enter into negotiations back in June, just three days before he was scheduled to go to trial with trustees who blocked his attempt to remove stock in the teams. Once that matter is resolved, the NFL will still need to approve the settlement regarding team ownership.
  • Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis, who missed the majority of the 2015 season with a trio of injuries, says he will be ready for the regular-season opener, as Josh Katzenstein of The Times-Picayune writes. His return will be a welcome one for the Saints, who will pair him with Delvin Breaux to form a fairly solid starting duo outside the hash marks.
  • One thing that would help the secondary, of course, is a better pass rush, and Nick Underhill of The New Orleans Advocate explores some of the Saints’ options in that regard.

Latest On Saints, Drew Brees

As the summer has progressed, it’s appeared increasingly unlikely that the Saints and Drew Brees would come to an agreement on an extension. The quarterback’s recent comments did little to boost optimism regarding a new contract.

Drew Brees (Vertical)As several big-name signal-callers have earned contract extensions this offseason, Brees is still eyeing free agency following the season. While the two parties could suddenly come to an agreement, the 37-year-old told ESPN.com’s Mike Triplett that the sides haven’t negotiated in nearly three months.

“Not sure why things have not progressed,” he said. “They made an offer in March, we made an offer shortly thereafter. And besides the Josh Norman deal [the organization approached Brees with a new contract in order to sign the cornerback], there has been no talk about a contract since.”

Brees has been rather adamant that he won’t discuss an extension during the regular season, although he acknowledged that a solid deadline hasn’t been set. The team-leader has no intentions of holding out or skipping practices.

“I would say the deadline is the start of the regular season, not training camp,” he said.

As Triplett notes, guaranteed money is the likely “sticking point” in the negotiations between the quarterback and the Saints. Although Andrew Luck and Joe Flacco earned more than $60MM in guaranteed money on their extension, a similar deal would seemingly mean that the Saints would have to pay Brees until he’s at least 39 years old.

Brees will be entering the final year of his (then) record-breaking five-year, $200MM contract signed in 2012. The veteran has a staggering $30MM cap hit for this upcoming season, and he’s set to earn $19.75MM via his salary and $7.4MM via a signing bonus.

Despite wrapping up his 15th NFL season, Brees is still going strong. He finished the 2015 season with 4,870 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions — his lowest total since 2009.

Opinion: Saints Secondary Could Be Improved