Where are the Saints at with their cap space, and what's the future hold for Blake Grupe, Lou Hedley and the special teams unit?
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00:00 Now semantics on the financials the salary cap they've had a lot of them so right now as it stands
00:06 They're about eighteen point six million dollars with of space that they have available right now now some of those contracts probably haven't been hit
00:13 Yet not that I've seen but you know they restart renegotiated James Hearst's contract
00:18 We said that was happening ram check was another one said that was happening as well
00:23 You know I think their position fairly well as far as having some money
00:28 You only need what four or five million dollars to sign your draft class in the first place
00:31 So it's not like you have a ton so they can create more space if they wanted to you mentioned taste and you missing mentioned
00:38 Camara, it's possible for them to create more space, but I don't think they're in a situation where you look at the state of team
00:44 They're hurting for money, or they're in a press situation where they have to spend this or that
00:50 Or they want to make sure that they spend all their money
00:54 It really is just kind of a wait-and-see type thing for them, and they'll get some players out of it again
01:00 It's they got to get 90
01:03 The ones you want
01:07 of course that could suggest whether they're they're in a compete now mode or
01:12 soft rebuild mode or
01:15 Managing the cat mode. There's just too many variables right yes
01:20 Yes, it's the answer yes is the correct answer
01:24 I saw this question here Ross - just because you know Thomas Morstead became available or thought
01:30 Indicated a lot of people like Thomas Morstead is gonna come back
01:32 And he ended up going the Jets which that was kind of expected, but you know interesting question
01:38 Do you think that they'll keep head layup on her and groupie at kicker or move on from either them?
01:42 Groupie no absolutely not and
01:45 Headly they have a large
01:49 Logistical way of thinking of Lou Headley, but what are your thoughts and then I'll chime in and tell you what my thoughts are
01:54 Yeah, it's a simple look for me
01:57 They'll bring in competition and training camp as they always do I think you'll see two kickers two punters on the roster just like you're
02:02 Gonna see two fullbacks on the roster just like you always do and all these other things
02:05 I think they'll bring in competition
02:07 But overall the competition would be there to help kind of push the development of groupie and head Lee
02:12 Kind of keep them in that sort of competitive spirit keep them in all that
02:15 But I don't expect that there will be a new team of specialists in 2020 at this time
02:22 No, no, and I mean groupie did fine. You know and I think here's the insight
02:27 I give you something we got from Phil Gagliano
02:30 It's and at the Senior Bowl
02:32 Which I think kind of put this in perspective a good bit for those who just don't know
02:36 Groupie basically went from his final kicking days at Notre Dame or Notre Dame Notre Dame
02:42 I was telling my kids about hunchback of Notre Dame. That's why
02:45 Anyways, I digress
02:49 Finishes up at Notre Dame
02:51 He goes immediately into kicking camps and all these types of things that he's working out on and then he gets picked up as undrafted
02:58 Free agent and he's kicking for the Saints and he's in the thick of it. Then he's kicking during the season
03:04 This is the first point in I don't know how long for him that he's been able to kind of have a break
03:10 Yeah, and not be able to kick but like that's just a symbol as you just try to paint the picture of a journey for
03:16 Somebody like a Blake groupie. Yeah, I would expect wild
03:19 Tonne, I mean, it's crazy
03:21 You look up Cole's kicking camp and shout out to them that they have a lot of specialists that go specifically to them
03:27 And you know groupies one that when when I saw him as fit as like this guy's got a little bit more than meets the eye
03:33 If you will to rip off transformers a little bit, but you know
03:36 I think that's just important to remember is that he's gonna be able to have an actual offseason
03:40 Rest himself up a little bit and then with Lou Headley
03:43 Again, it's an unorthodox. It's an Australian type rules a punt, but here's the thought process behind it
03:51 If you have a punter that can kick
03:53 55 yards and
03:56 Gets the great hang time and then is able to return 10 yards
04:01 Versus a punter who can punt it 45 with no return. The net is still the same, right?
04:07 That's the way the team looks at it again, whether you like it or you don't
04:12 That's just a cold hard facts is like that's why when the Saints were a top
04:16 You know unit and in terms of their return yardage is because of that simple thing. It doesn't look good
04:22 It honestly scary sometimes. He puts the ball. We're like
04:27 Mmm, we're coming 40 to 45 maybe but in a lot of ways it sometimes it really does work, right?
04:33 And I don't know again. That's just the thought process there
04:38 I don't know if they'll their change much of that because they've had the guys that can boot at 60 65 yards if they wanted that
04:43 They would have kept Blake Gilligan
04:45 They kept Hadley on the roster
04:48 and so I think I was more not just because of what the ability was I think there were some other issues there but
04:54 without getting too much into it, but
04:57 You know, I think they like the undrafted guys
04:59 I think Darren Rizzi does a fantastic job that he just doesn't get a lot of respect for in a lot of ways
05:05 But he's just puts together a solid
05:07 special teams group and now he's really gonna be tested because again you lost a lot of these pieces and a special teams coverage unit and
05:14 It's gonna be having to to make it, you know, make make it a gold again
05:20 You know what? I mean? You just can't have any drop-off in the special teams game. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely
05:25 I was trying to look real quick to see if I could find the the punting stats for New Orleans
05:31 and so when we look at like
05:32 When we look at like return the number of returns and things like that
05:37 Like those the other things that you're always looking for but the Saints were second least amount of return
05:43 Yards in total allowed Jacksonville was at 143 the Saints were at 163 and so that was 163
05:50 Over the course of 29 different returns and with the help of my trusty calculator here. That's
05:55 5.6 yards per return like that's the value
06:00 That's why the Saints like that right just like you were mentioning you can punt
06:03 55 yards and give up a you know, 10 yard return
06:07 It's a 45 net 45, you know net but if you're putting 45 yards with no return
06:12 It's the same thing just like you mentioned and when you're allowing
06:16 5.6 yards per return like yeah your pot coverage units doing pretty well. Yep. Yep