New Orleans
Saints

Saints Team Report

Updated: February 11, 2012 02:14 EST

It doesn't take long to get to the big issues for Saints officials as they prepare to embark on a 2 1/2-month period that will be critical for an offensive unit that shattered the NFL record for total yards in 2011.

Most front-office executives would love to have the "issues" a team that won 14 games has going into the offseason, but the Saints know that keeping the core of that productive offense intact won't be easy -- not by any stretch of the imagination.

The top priority, of course, is getting quarterback Drew Brees re-signed after he completed the six-year, $60 million contract he received from the team in March 2006. In this case, it was money well spent as Brees helped deliver four playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title.

The cost of doing business has gone up exponentially since then, especially when it pertains to franchise quarterbacks, which means Saints owner Tom Benson will have to take out his checkbook and spend at least $18 million annually to keep Brees in the fold.

While General manager Mickey Loomis and Brees have both recently expressed confidence that the deal will get done and he will be back in a Saints uniform in 2012, the five-time Pro Bowl pick is merely part of the equation -- a rather large part obviously -- for the Saints on that side of the ball.

Three other pieces of the potent offense are also potential unrestricted free agents that Loomis has to deal with in the next couple of months.

Getting All-Pro left guard Carl Nicks, a two-time Pro Bowl pick, and wide receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem to remain with the team are also seen as critical to the offense's success going forward.

Brees is the key to the Saints keeping Nicks, a five-year veteran, off the open market. If Brees were to agree to a new contract in the next few weeks, the Saints could then use the franchise tag on Nicks to ensure his return.

Nicks, who wants to return to New Orleans, will likely seek a deal worth more than the one three-time All-Pro right guard Jahri Evans received in May 2010. The Saints locked up Evans with a seven-year, $56.7 million contract after his first All-Pro season.

During a visit to Indianapolis during Super Bowl week, Nicks said he was "disheartened" that the Saints haven't reached out to start negotiations, but acknowledged the team has to take care of Brees first.

Colston and Meachem, two of Brees' favorite receivers, have a combined 11 seasons in Sean Payton's system. During their time with the Saints, they have 590 receptions for 8,509 yards and 71 touchdowns.

While the Saints have Lance Moore and Devery Henderson under contract, getting Colston and Meachem back are important if their asking price is not too steep considering what they may have to spend to keep Brees and Nicks.

Backup quarterback Chase Daniel is a restricted free agent and will likely be back along with starting center Brian de la Puente, who is an exclusive rights free agent and will be tendered.

--It took a while, but the Saints officially announced that they have hired former St. Louis Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo as their new defensive coordinator.

Spagnuolo, who was hired on Jan. 19 following a visit with coach Sean Payton the previous day, started his duties on Jan. 23 at the Senior Bowl. He replaces Gregg Williams, who left to take the same position with new Rams coach Jeff Fisher.

Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants when they pulled off a 17-14 upset of the then-unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, comes to the Saints after three seasons as the Rams' head coach.

During his two-year tenure with the Giants, Spagnuolo's defenses allowed 17 points or fewer 19 times. New York was 19-0 in those games and they ranked seventh and fifth in fewest yards allowed in 2007 and '08, respectively.

"He's a tremendous teacher and possesses an outstanding knowledge of the game," Payton said in a team news release. "Steve shares the same vision that we do for our defense moving forward and will be a big asset to our coaching staff."

--Payton also announced that the Saints have added two coaches who worked with Spagnuolo in St. Louis, secondary coach Ken Flajole and assistant secondary coach Andre Curtis.

Flajole was Spagnuolo's defensive coordinator with the Rams, who moved up 10 spots in the league rankings in total defense from 29th in 2009 to 19th the next season and improved from 31st to 12th in scoring defense that same year. They also were seventh against the pass in 2011.

Curtis, the secondary coach with the Rams, will serve as Flajole's assistant in New Orleans.

Payton still needs to add a wide receivers coach and assistant special teams coach to replace Curtis Johnson and John Bonamego, respectively. Johnson took the head coaching job at Tulane and Bonamego left to join the Jacksonville Jaguars' staff.

--Drew Brees' record-setting season has earned him more honors as he was named last week The Associated Press' Offensive Player of the Year.

Brees shattered Dan Marino's 27-year-old single-season passing mark with 5,476 yards and his 468 completions broke Peyton Manning's 2010 record of 450. Brees also completed 71.6 percent of his passes, which broke the record of 70.6 percent that he had owned since 2009.

He also had seven straight 300-yard passing games and 13 for the season, which both established NFL marks he already held, in helping the Saints set a league single-season record with 7,474 total yards.

--Brees, who was announced last week as the FedEx NFL Air Player of the Year for the fourth time in six seasons in an online vote of fans, was named the winner of the 46th annual Byron "Whizzer" White Award last month at the NFLPA PULSE Awards in Los Angeles.

The award is presented annually to the player who serves his team, community and country.

Finalists are nominated by their teams. After reviewing the 32 honorees from around the league, Brees was selected as one of three finalists along with Pittsburgh's Charlie Batch and New York Jets' LaDainian Tomlinson.

--The Saints will be represented at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the second time in three years after tackle William Roaf, who starred for the team from 1993-2001, was elected on Feb. 4.

Roaf, the Saints' top draft pick in 1993, was elected in his second year of eligibility. He joins linebacker Rickey Jackson, who was inducted in 2010, as the only players in the pro football shrine to spend the majority of their careers with the Saints.

He was chosen to seven of his Pro Bowl berths as a Saint, which is a club record, after starting 131 regular-season games and two playoff games -- including their first postseason win in 2000.

"He was the best player on our team during his entire tenure with us, one of the top players in the history of our franchise, and one of the NFL's greatest at his position," Saints owner Tom Benson said in a statement released by the team.

--Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who rose to stardom in his second season following an odyssey that began when he was abandoned by his mother as a child, will be a part of a USA Network special Friday night.

The show, which is called "NFL Characters Unite," features Graham mentoring a New Orleans teenager from a broken home who is about to enter a Boy's Town foster home.

"These boys and girls, all they need is one person to believe in them," Graham says in a promotional clip.

Graham is one of four NFL celebrities who took part in the program. The others are Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez and former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I obviously take a lot of pride in what I do on the field because that has the ability to influence a lot of people. That puts smiles on people's faces. That gives people a pep in their step on Monday mornings when they go back to work. That does so much for the city." -- Saints QB Drew Brees, on receiving the AP Offensive Player of the Year Award.

Like a lot of teams, the Saints are in the middle of a critical part of the offseason as they continue to evaluate the 2011 season and try to prepare to make moves that they hope will help fulfill their lofty expectations next fall.

As usual, the Saints will leave no stone unturned as they look to identify and fix things that went wrong in a divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, which left them two games short of the Super Bowl.

The first thing they have to do is identify which of their 23 free agents they want to bring back while looking at potential free agents around the league that could help them -- especially at defensive tackle and linebacker, their two biggest needs.

MEDICAL WATCH

--RB Mark Ingram had surgery Jan. 6 to repair damage to the big toe on his left foot, but should be ready for training camp.

--SLB Will Herring finished the season on injured reserve with a sprained knee and should be fine for offseason conditioning work.

--T Charles Brown had surgery on his hip in early November and it's not known if he'll be ready for spring workouts.

--TE David Thomas suffered two concussions before being put on injured reserve, but should be ready to go this spring.

--PK Garrett Hartley underwent surgery on his hip early in the season and should be ready to go for spring workouts.