The Saints surprised pretty much everyone that has at minimum a passing interest in NFL free agency by grabbing who was largely viewed as the top player on the market in Jairus Byrd. The deal didn't come cheap, however, as the Saints spent handsomely in order to land him. Indeed it took every bit of 6 years for $54 million, or Byrd's pie in the sky asking price of $9 million a year, to bring him to New Orleans. That's the biggest contract in NFL history for a safety. The reason that was such a huge surprise was the constant post Super Bowl media narrative that the Saints are not in a financial position to make any sort of splash in the free agency market given their salary cap issues, especially considering the Jimmy Graham situation. But the Saints have consistently shown that if they see a player they like, they will go get him. Despite significant cap issues a year ago, they still managed to land high ticket cornerback Keenan Lewis on a 5 year $26.3 million deal last offseason. So how did the Saints even pull this off?
The Saints had roughly $2 million in cap room coming into free agency. This was before parting ways with Darren Sproles which has already been a foregone conclusion based on every media outlet's announcement and Darren Sproles himself tweeting his goodbyes to the fans. While nothing has happened officially, yet, that move will immediately put the Saints a little over $5 million under the cap once completed. It's looking more and more like Sproles will be traded for a draft pick in short order. And that's all it will take for Byrd to fit in. The signing bonus for Byrd was $11 million, which will be prorated as a $1.83 million cap hit per year. If the structure of Byrd's is anything like Drew Brees's contract (those specific details are yet to be released), then the first two years in salary are manageable numbers with significant escalations in following seasons. Let's say Byrd's salary was $2.5 million in year one, that would give him a cap value of ~$4.33 million. It is assumed the contract won't officially be turned into the league office until Sproles is dealt, which should happen today. Brees's contract in year three (next season) has an astronomical jump, one so significant the team will have to re-structure (goes from $18.4 million to $26.4 million). And when they do, that will give them a lot of cap flexibility for 2015 and beyond. Brees has already said publicly he is completely open to that and he will do whatever it takes to help the team win. Jairus Byrd's contract is likely similar, with a significant jump in 2016 that may need to be re-negotiated.
So the Saints can fit Byrd under the cap, but they won't be able to sign anyone else and now more in jeopardy than ever is the Jimmy Graham situation, right? Nope. Last offseason the Saints were able to make room for Lewis and retain a slew of veterans on high salaries by re-structuring a number of players on the team. While Brees' contract needs to wait till 2015 for a re-structure, that doesn't mean the Saints can't get some significant cap room immediately by doing the same exercise with other players. The Saints can re-structure Jahri Evans, Ben Grubbs and Marques Colston to get about $10 million worth of cap space in 2014. Add Brodrick Bunkley to that list and they would gain about $3 million more. That's more than enough room for Graham and if the Saints sign him to a deal with a manageable cap hit in year one that should still leave plenty of room to add other players as well. The Saints still need a starter at right tackle, cornerback and center as well.
So the team would be doing all this and have to pay for it at some point, right? Surely they are mortgaging the future to win now? Not necessarily. As things stand the Saints have roughly ~$20 million in cap room for 2015. That's before a Brees re-structure which would give them signficantly more cap room, but also before a long term deal with Jimmy Graham which would give them less. They'll also have to sign Cameron Jordan to a big time deal at that point, but the cap is looking ok for the Saints in future years. And like anything else, as players age, get worse and carry enormous contracts they can't live up to, they'll be cut. And sure, those cuts will carry cap hits, but they'll also give the team a lot of room to play with. Don't forget the Saints let go of Roman Harper, Lance Moore, Will Smith and Jabari Greer this offseason. None of those four players had an impact on the 2013 season and all four were injured for at least a good portion of it. Losing those players won't have a major impact on the 2014 season from a competitive standpoint, but it gave the team the financial ability to go get Byrd and sign Jimmy Graham. Scenarios like that in the future are what will continue to keep the Saints competitive as long as Drew Brees is performing at a high level.
Losing Darren Sproles, on the other hand, should be interesting. The Saints seem to be on a bit of a decline offensively, and the changes suggest they may be moving more towards a power running game with Mark Ingram and Khiry Robinson. If that's the case, they may be leaning on a defense that was 4th in the NFL last season with Rob Ryan at the helm. While that defense was dominant from a yards perspective, the one thing that was really missing was turnovers. That's where Jairus Byrd comes in as a premiere ballhawk. With the amount of pressure the Saints have been getting on the quarterback, led by Cameron Jordan and Junior Galette, Byrd figures to get numerous opportunities to showcase his skills. An elite defense just got a lot more dangerous.
So don't count on the Saints going away anytime soon. Sean Payton made that clear to those of us listening: "Honestly, the window, as long as I'm head coach here, we're trying to slam it open always. And so, you can take each individual player and say when's the window of opportunity. I think I've heard that the last three years. Now with regards to a specific player like Drew, I get that. And yet, that window's still all the way open. And I mean that. So we're always in a constant change, if you will, of taking in the new players, evaluating this team ... but that window for us is each year slammed open."
Are you ready, folks? We finally have some legit gossip for you. Trashy, nonsensical, bad for your health, drama! In Touch has managed to obtain a list (handwritten by Lindsay Lohan) of all the celebrities she has hooked up with.
The list contains 36 of her former lovers, and there are some pretty huge names on the list. You can view a picture of the list in question down below.
How did In Touch get a copy of this list? And why did Lindsay Lohan write this list in the first place? Well, sources claim Lindsay Lohan created the list at the Beverly Hills Hotel back in January of last year.
“It was her personal conquest list. She was trying to impress her friends with the list and then tossed it aside. The list has some pretty big names on it, and they’re not all single guys. This getting out now could rock several Hollywood relationships to the core.”
Ah, yes! There is nothing better than the smell of celebrity trash in the morning. As you can see, there are a number of dudes on the list. Some surprising names include, Justin Timberlake, Colin Farrell, and Evan Peters, who is now engaged to that crazy Emma Roberts chick. He better watch out.
It’s hard to take this list seriously. I mean, I don’t doubt that Lindsay Lohan has had sex with 36 celebrities. It’s just some of the names don’t make sense. And why would she spell Zac Efron’s name with a K?
Every teenager in the world knows he has always been….
The post Lindsay Lohan Writes Down Long List Of All Her Former Lovers, Adam Levine, Zac Efron and Justin Timberlake Included! appeared first on T.V.S.T..
Fed up with their nation’s corrupt, mendacious, ineffectual leadership, a group of Americans is seeking to join the Russian Federation.
“We are collecting signatures for a national referendum on whether to remain a failed state – an economic basket case run by criminal oligarchs – or to join the Russian Federation under a President with a proven track record of bringing oligarchs to heel,” said Bill Blatsky, head of the Join Russia – Putin for President committee.
Referendum proponents point out that the US has deep historic ties with Russia. “Nearly 20% of the United States consists of Alaska, which was historically Russian territory,” Blatsky explains. “Even today, Sarah Palin can look out her window across the Bering Strait, see the glittering lights of Vladivostok, and sigh longingly, wishing she were over there in a civilized country, where an ignorant hick like her wouldn’t stand a chance of getting elected dogcatcher. Why would Americans wish to remain in a nation that would even contemplate putting such a person within a heartbeat of its presidency? By joining the Russian Federation, we would become part of a country with at least a semblance of an educational system.”
Strangely enough, two 'conspiracy theories' are completed with this story, which also takes a well-deserved shot at the corrupt Bush Administration that preceeded the current one. The first conspiracy theory completed would see part of the West Coast of America joining Russia, a a theory put forth by Professor Igor Panarin who predicted that the US would fall apart with Alaska joining the Russian Federation and the West Coast joining China as shown on the map directly below. More below map.
The Putin for President movement points out that America’s West Coast from San Francisco northward – the coolest part of the USA – is also arguably a historic part of Russia. “It isn’t just Alaska,” Blatsky explained. “There is a reason that the world’s leading marijuana producer, Humboldt County, California, is named after the Russian explorer and marijuana connoisseur Alexander Von Humboldt, who planted the Russian flag on these shores but forgot about it due to short-term memory dysfunction. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what that reason is. And let’s not forget that Bohemian Grove, where America’s criminal oligarchs meet annually to plot their plunder, is on the Russian River. Wouldn’t it be great if Putin sent a battleship up that river and arrested all those guys?”
Opponents argue that a join-Russia referendum would be unconstitutional. Supporters respond that everything the US government has done since 9/11, and most of what it was doing before that, is also unconstitutional, but nobody seems to care.
If the Join-Russia Referendum fails to make the national ballot, supporters have a fall-back option: Running Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America. Blatsky likes Putin’s chances: “If Putin ran against the six most recent major party candidates for President – Barrack Obama, Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry, Al Gore, and George W. Bush – he would win more votes than all the other candidates combined.”
This story would not be complete without a tie-in to the ludicrous attempt of these criminals to portray Obama as a true American citizen. Tieing in nicely with the death of Loretta Fuddy, Kevin Barrett couldn't resist taking a shot that should put a smile on everyone's face.
When asked about a possible Putin candidacy, an Obama Administration official argued that the Russian president is ineligible for the US presidency because he is not a natural-born US citizen.
Loretta Fuddy, the state official who is said to have produced a photoshopped document proving that Putin was born in Hawaii, could not be reached for comment.
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