Archie Manning thanked Brees for fulfilling his dream

Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning originally supported his son’s team before the Saints played the Super Bowl XLIV game against the Indianapolis Colts. After his former team beat Colts to win their first Super Bowl championship in club history, Archie Manning was just as happy as any true Saints fans and expressed his appreciation to Drew Brees for leading the Saints to the historical victory.


Archie Manning was drafted by the Saints in 1971 as a second overall pick and he spent most of his NFL career with the team, which was one of the worst in the league at that time. Although he was highly expected to bring the Saints out of misery with his talents in football, Manning eventually ended his tenure with the team in 1983 without winning any one of his 12 seasons in New Orleans. However, he has been still taken as one of the best Saints quarterbacks. Dreaming of a Super Bowl ring but finishing NFL career without it, Archie Manning always takes that as the most regrettable thing in his life.

As Brees managed to achieve what Archie failed to do, the former leading quarterback of Saints said he was feeling so lucky for being able to witness the most glorious moment as a life-long Saints fan himself that he would like to wear back the Archie Manning jersey to play as a backup for Brees if he was still young enough to do that.

Saints have no interest in Merriman but in Cofield

According to some recent reports, the New Orleans Saints along with another two unnamed NFL teams had been talking with the San Diego Chargers on a possible trade for linebacker Shawne Merriman, but later reports from other sources said the Saints had no plan to acquire Merriman at all, but they do have a plan to add a defensive tackle.

The clearing reports said that they had official sources confirm what they reported. According to sources, the trade for Merriman is impossible because the Saints at the moment do not want to spend big money on a superstar player. They need to save the money for positions with more urgent needs. Even if Merriman is available and a good fill in the linebacker, adding him would just cost too much for team to carry out their whole team-improving plan as they scheduled.

But we may expect defensive tackle Barry Cofield to leave the New York Giants and put on New Orleans Saints jersey, as the same reports said the same sources confirmed a deal was close to an end between the two teams. However, they also added that the contract was still on a shaky ground as the Saints are unwilling to offer a lucrative long-term contract as Cofield demands. Things are just still in progress.

Saints TE David Thomas is now more valuable than before

After having an excellent season in his first year of wearing the New Orleans Saints jersey, former New England Patriots tight end David Thomas has proved that he is worth more than what the Patriots asked for one year ago while trading him to the Saints.

According to the Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, the Saints now owes the Patriots a six-round pick of 2011 draft instead of the original seventh-rounder, as 26-year-old Thomas has become much better than what he was before the trade. While helping the Saints win their first Super Bowl title, Thomas also had his career-best season with 35 catches for 356 yards and one touchdown. For that great performance, he earned a new one-year contract worth $1.176 million after becoming restricted free agent earlier this offseason.

The Saints would be glad to pay a higher draft pick back to the Patriots as what they have now is a valuable and versatile backup, who is able to take replacement for starter whenever it is necessary. David also started at fullback at times last season. It’s hard to say whether the Patriots had wrong decision in the trade or Saints are just a better team for Thomas.

Saints coach Payton originally wanted to work with Packers

After the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl title in history, their head coach Sean Payton has been considered to be one of the heroes in the New Orleans city. However, the coach himself revealed in his new book that, he originally did not intend to coach the Saints at all.

The new book’s name is "Home Team: Coaching the Saints and New Orleans Back to Life", and Payton does not want to hide his original impression with the Saints. He said in the book that he was still expecting a text message from Green Bay Packers officials when he arrived at the airport of New Orleans.

"I really thought there was a good chance I was getting the Packers' job. Without a doubt, Green Bay is where I wanted to go."

Payton said he was disappointed after being told by Ted Thompson, the Packers GM, that he lost the competition to Mike McCarthy. As a result he chose the Saints and proved what an elite coach the Packers had missed. In the first season under the coaching of Payton, the Saints managed to enter the NFC title game. Then, all those in Saints jerseys welcomed their best time in 2009 season and made it to the final victory in the post season. I guess, although he felt frustrated for not being chosen by the Packers, Payton just never regretted for coaching the Saints.

Saints starting QB Brees received new prize

Leading the New Orleans Saints to the franchise first Super Bowl championship has brought quarterback Drew Brees more than a Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP title. Recently a new prize was given to the quarterback in No. 9 Saints jersey-being the cover model for this year’s “Madden NFL”.

According to the announcement made by the EA Sports on Thursday, Brees will appear as featured image on the front of “Madden NFL 11,” the latest installment of the best-selling football franchise. Expressing his gladness for being selected, Brees said that landing the cover of “Madden” was “a great way to cap off an amazing year.” Indeed, a Super Bowl win is enough for him to be honored in that way and there are still other reasons for him to make appearance of the cover of “Madden”.

Since joining the Saints in 2006 after being released by the former team San Diego Chargers, Brees has devoted a lot of his life to the city. He is not only the starting quarterback of the city’s football team but also the spokesman for the city’s reconstruction after the Hurricane Katrina. Without telling what he wants to be like on the cover, the quarterback hopes that people could pay more attention to what happened to New Orleans upon seeing the Saints’ fleur-de-lis logo on the cover.

Saints now have new DE Wilkerson

Now the No. 97 New Orleans Saints jersey is ready to be worn by someone new from Tampa Bay. On the past Tuesday night, former Buccaneers defensive end Jimmy Wilkerson signed a one-year contract worth $2 million with the Saints, adding some more depth to the team’s defensive line that causes concerns going into the preseason.

The Saints were believed to make a good choice in adding Wilkerson. The defensive end recorded 46 tackles, 6 sacks, and forced 2 fumbles for a very underwhelming defense during last season with the Buccaneers despite an ACL injury that was suffered late last year. Spending his first five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Wilkerson has his best seasons with the Buccaneers with 11 of his 12 career sacks being made during the past two seasons. The seven-year veteran became a restricted free agent this offseason and had been considering several offers including the one made by Buccaneers. After having a visit with Saints recently, he made the decision to join the last year’s Super Bowl champion team.

Coupled with recent signing of former Chicago Bears defensive end Alex Brown, the addition of Wilkerson made the Saints more confident with the position of defensive end. It may also affect the team’s choice in the first round of the draft and team is likely to use their first pick to draft a player for another position on the defensive line.