Deuce's Future in NO is uncertain (1 Viewer)

[KellysHeroes]

Saints GM Mickey Loomis was non-committal when asked about Deuce McAllister's future with the club on Wednesday.

New Orleans will make a decision on McAllister in March, when he's due a $1 million roster bonus. It seems likely that Deuce will be paid after Reggie Bush failed to establish himself as an every-down answer in 2007. The team could then look to turn some of his $3.6 million salary into incentives. Loomis did say that McAllister's recovery from a torn ACL is going well.

I disagree, I think he'll be cut. Both Reggie and Deuce failed when both were playing (Reggie was doing decent until he got hurt).

I highly doubt that NOS keeps Deuce around now that he has both knees torn up. There will be plenty of FA RBs that are younger and cheaper if the Siants wish to place Bush in a similar 2006 RBBC.

 

[Da Guru]

Saints GM Mickey Loomis was non-committal when asked about Deuce McAllister's future with the club on Wednesday.New Orleans will make a decision on McAllister in March, when he's due a $1 million roster bonus. It seems likely that Deuce will be paid after Reggie Bush failed to establish himself as an every-down answer in 2007. The team could then look to turn some of his $3.6 million salary into incentives. Loomis did say that McAllister's recovery from a torn ACL is going well.I disagree, I think he'll be cut. Both Reggie and Deuce failed when both were playing (Reggie was doing decent until he got hurt). I highly doubt that NOS keeps Deuce around now that he has both knees torn up. There will be plenty of FA RBs that are younger and cheaper if the Siants wish to place Bush in a similar 2006 RBBC.

St Pierre looked better than Bush or Deuce..at a bargain price.

 

[saintfool]

Deuce and Reggie worked just fine in 2006. To suggest that they weren't or couldn't be effective in 2007 is pretty absurd. Deuce had 24 rushing attempts in barely 3 games. Reggie had 29 in 3 full games. It's too small a sample size to claim anything. They weren't effective in 3 games but, then, neither was Brees (7 Ints/1 TD in those 3 games).

So let's traffic in what we do know...

- Deuce/Reggie proved to be a fantastic combo over the course of a full season in 2006;

- Deuce/Reggie were off to a shaky start in the 2007 before Deuce went on IR;

- Reggie struggled and wasn't as effective rushing as the primary RB during the rest of the season; and

- Deuce will be rehabbing from a different knee's injury.

I'm not convinced they need to do anything here. Deuce was fine in 2006, coming off a season ending knee injury in 2005. They could ask him to change his contract or get cut but they've got a ton of cap space going into the new season. I would be shocked if they didn't bring him back, as the franchise under Payton has stressed the "high character" element to the organization. Cutting Deuce without giving him a shot would be incongruent with that profile and/or message. The fact of the matter is that most fans LOVE Deuce. We can keep our proven RB stable intact easily enough.

 

[PranksterJD]

Deuce and Reggie worked just fine in 2006. To suggest that they weren't or couldn't be effective in 2007 is pretty absurd. Deuce had 24 rushing attempts in barely 3 games. Reggie had 29 in 3 full games. It's too small a sample size to claim anything. They weren't effective in 3 games but, then, neither was Brees (7 Ints/1 TD in those 3 games).

So let's traffic in what we do know...

- Deuce/Reggie proved to be a fantastic combo over the course of a full season in 2006;

- Deuce/Reggie were off to a shaky start in the 2007 before Deuce went on IR;

- Reggie struggled and wasn't as effective rushing as the primary RB during the rest of the season; and

- Deuce will be rehabbing from a different knee's injury.

I'm not convinced they need to do anything here. Deuce was fine in 2006, coming off a season ending knee injury in 2005. They could ask him to change his contract or get cut but they've got a ton of cap space going into the new season. I would be shocked if they didn't bring him back, as the franchise under Payton has stressed the "high character" element to the organization. Cutting Deuce without giving him a shot would be incongruent with that profile and/or message. The fact of the matter is that most fans LOVE Deuce. We can keep our proven RB stable intact easily enough.

Heh.... you and I have been on opposite ends of this one for a while, and at this point its all speculation so no reason not to play devil's advocate again Cap space shouldn't be a problem, I'll admit, but Peyton's comments in this article scare me a bit when it comes to his drafting strategy.

"I think we can help ourselves. I think the approach that we'll take has been the same approach -- when the draft comes, you're always looking to try to take the best player on the board," Payton said. "In free agency, you're trying to identify some needs that you feel like you need to fill to immediately help your team."

Obviously everybody in every NFL org is blowing smoke right now, but the (questionable) pick of Meachem last year falls into play with this a bit. If he's using Free Agency to upgrade the team then we're potentially looking at some high priced defensive talent which could eat into that space. Also, we've got some work to do in house. The article containing the original post ( here ) shows that they're doing the right thing and talking with Colston, Will Smith and Jahri Evans about extensions now rather than waiting, which could eat the cap even more.

Everything I've said so far is circumstantial, but still shows that the cap space can go pretty quickly if the perfect storm hits.

Fans love McAllister, surely. Fans loved Joe Horn also. Probably not to the same degree, but even in interviews Deuce has said that his goal is to be ready for camp, and that the rest was "just business".