Its been a great week for New Orleans Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma. Earlier this week, charges by the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office stemming from his arrest in Miami on January 16th, were dropped (see statement below) and today the Saints reached agreement with Vilma on a five-year, $34 million contract that includes $17 million guaranteed and $23 million in the first three years. Vilma spent last year with the Saints after being traded to the Black and Gold from the New York Jets.

In 2008, Vilma started all 16 of the regular season games and recorded 132 total tackles, 1 sack, and 1 interception.

Tampa Bay had appeared to be interested in Vilma.

Vilma Made This Statement Regarding The Dropped Charges:

“I appreciate that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office did their due diligence and decided not to file charges against me regarding the arrest that occurred on January 16, 2009 in Miami, Florida. As I have indicated in the past, I would vigorously fight any charges filed against me surrounding the incident that occurred. I believe the State Attorney’s Office did the just and right thing in this matter. I would like to thank my family and friends, the New Orleans Saints organization, and my fans for supporting and believing in me.”

What The Saints Have Done In Free Agency So Far:

• Released WR David Patten and RB Deuce McAllister
• Signed TE Dan Campbell
• Tendered contracts to G Jahri Evans, WR Lance Moore, T Zach Strief, and CB Leigh Torrence

The New Orleans Saints released halfback Deuce McAllister today in what wasn’t really much of a surprise move. McAllister, who played college football at Ole Miss (Mississippi), has been with the Saints for all of his eight year NFL career.

“The Deuce” as he is called, has suffered two major knee injuries in the last four years, both of them requiring surgery. Doctors have called it a miracle that he was even able to play at one of the most phyical positions in the league.

He broke the Saints franchise record for most touchdowns scored in a game at the Louisiana Superdome last season against the Green Bay Packers.

McAllister is one of the most beloved players on the Saints roster and will go down as one of the most beloved in Saints history along with Archie Manning and Bobby Herbert.

General Manager Mickey Loomis said that “the door is still ajar” on if the Saints will resign McAllister after he has pursued his luck in free agency.

This is the press release that the Saints released today:

The New Orleans Saints have announced the release of running back Deuce McAllister.

McAllister, the first-round draft choice of the Saints in 2001, played in 97 regular season games over eight seasons in New Orleans and is the franchise’s record-holder for touchdowns scored with 55, rushing yards with 6,096, rushing attempts (1,429), rushing touchdowns with 49 and ranks eighth in receptions with 234. His 27 career 100-yard rushing games are the most in team history and he is the only Saints runner to gain 1,000 yards in a season four times, including two Pro Bowl seasons in 2002 and 2003.

“Deuce has meant so much to our organization since we selected him in the first round of the 2001 draft,” said Owner Tom Benson. “He has represented our club with dignity and class, and obviously been a great player – one of our best all-time.

Former Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Dan Morgan is coming out of retirement and will play for the Saints this season. Morgan was signed by the Saints after being released by the Panthers last year after Jon Beason took the injury prone linebacker’s place.

Morgan them promptly retired citing physical injuries (he has suffered five concussions in his career as well as numerous other injuries).

Last year, the Saints also acquired another middle linebacker, Jonathan Vilma who was Morgan’s teamate in college at Miami. The Saints, strapped with salary cap concerns, may not be able to resign Vilma so Morgan will have to try to stay injury free for a while, if at all possible.

Morgan was the Panthers first round pick in 2001 and in his career with the Panthers, played 59 out of 112 games, racked up 386 tackles, 3 fumbles forced, 7 sacks, and 5 interceptions.

A Saints spokesperson has confirmed that Morgan is indeed on the Saints’ roster.

Today, the Saints announced that they had cut veteran wide receiver David Patten. Last season, Patten caught 11 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown in five games. The Saints feel set at wide receiver with Marques Colston safely in the fold, Jeremy Shockey at tight end, and the availibilty of resigning Lance Moore, Devery Henderson, and Courtney Roby.

Here’s the situation, the state of Louisiana has to come up with an amount of money to keep the Saints and Hornets in New Orleans. The state has a certain amount of money set aside for things such as this, but the balance of that is falling short by about $23 million dollars.

The state could keep the teams in the Crescent City by taking the money out of the general fund, but some don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to name no names here, but “they” don’t feel like the Saints and Hornets are generating enough money for the state to warrant paying them that amount of money.

If any of these guys, or gals, let the Hornets slide they’re gonna take some heat, but if they let the Saints go, then they’ll probably not be in office after the next election.

By giving up the Saints and Hornets, then you are giving up any chances of hosting a Super Bowl, NBA All-Star game, and since Tom Benson also owns the VooDoo, New Orleans’ arena football team, then maybe even the chance of hosting another Arena Bowl.

The last time that I checked New Orleans has hosted the most Super Bowls of any city in the world, and there isn’t any reason why they shouldn’t get any more.

If the Saints and Hornets go, then there could be rioting in the streets, well maybe that was just an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Besides all of the financial mumbo “gumbo”, there’s the rallying factor to consider. What would’ve happened if the Saints wouldn’t have been here after Katrina?

If these teams, especially the Saints, leave and go to another city, then it could be political suicide, if they go and win a championship in another city then it will most certainly be political suicide.

Our gumbo just wouldn’t be as good without the Saints and Hornets. Lets keep our teams, people!

After the horrendous Saints’ season of 2005 (the Saints went 3-13 and lost their stadium, the Louisiana Superdome to Hurricane Katrina for most of the year), the team needed a change. Head Coach Jim Haslett and one time star quarterback Aaron Brooks were out of the door so fast that it didn’t even have time to hit them on the way out.
Sean Payton, an assistant to Bill Parcells in Dallas was soon hired as the team’s new head coach. After his time as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, Payton was regarded around the league as “damaged goods” because Head Coach Jim Fassel had taken over the playcalling and the Giants had suddenly got hot. Then Payton was summoned to Dallas by the Tuna where he was named a candidate for the head coaching job of the Oakland Raiders after only a season with the ‘Boys.
Payton declined the job and stayed around in Dallas until the Saints came calling.
With Payton in place, the Black and Gold started looking for a quarterback. Matt Leinhart, Vince Young, and Jay Cutler were all going to be available in the draft in which the Saints had the second overall pick.
In the free agency picture, Drew Brees (formerly of San Diego) and Daunte Culpepper (formerly of Minnesota) were available but both were coming off of injuries.
After courting Brees, the Saints were finally able to sign him and they used that draft pick to take Reggie Bush, who was regarded as one of the best college football players of his time. Many Saints fans saw Bush as their hero, the guy who would lift New Orleans out of the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina singlehandedly.
Bush did help, but the big reason for the Saints’ NFC Championship game appearance, the Saints first one ever, was Drew Brees who was coming off of a major shoulder injury.
Brees was named to the Pro Bowl that year as was he this year. He fell 16 yards short of Dan Marino’s single season yardage record and became only the second quarterback, other than Marino, to throw for over 5,000 yards in a single season. He was also named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.
With his great performances on Sunday, Brees could get by with a bad attitude but instead, he chooses to help his adopted hometown though the the Brees Dream Foundation as well as through other ways.
In a poll conducted by Sports Illustrated, Brees was named one of the NFL’s friendliest players along with his former teammate, Ladainian Tomlinson.
Drew Brees is truly a quarterback extraordinaire.

New Orleans Saints’ cornerback Usama Young was featured in an NFL ad on Super Bowl Sunday.  The NFL runs the ad every year to tell one player’s story, players submit their stories and fans vote on them, one lucky participant gets his story turned into a Super Bowl ad. Young tells of his memories of selling lemonade and cotton candy during Washington Redskins games at RFK Stadium and dreaming of playing professional football one day. Now, he’s in the Super Bowl, kinda.

You can contact me at jwjoffrion@bellsouth.net

To get our minds off of the recent torture that we have gotten from our boys in Black and Gold, I decided to post this video of highlights from the 2006 and 2007 seasons which I found on YouTube.

Contact me at jwjoffrion@bellsouth.net