By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

May 17, 2010, 11:14AM

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King rolled out his annual predictions for the upcoming NFL season, but he admitted that he “stinks” at doing this every year. Last year, he ranked the New Orleans Saints at No. 24 — which turned out to be 23 spots too low.

This year, King has the Saints at No. 5, behind No. 1 Green Bay and No. 2 San Diego, among others.

By Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

May 16, 2010, 10:56AM

The only thing more difficult than winning a Super Bowl is defending one.

Only eight of the 44 Super Bowl champions have repeated the next season. The 2003 and ’04 New England Patriots are the only team to have done it in the past 11 years.

In fact, the New Orleans Saints are more likely to miss the playoffs altogether than make it to Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium.

Only 11 Super Bowl champs were able to reach the Super Bowl the next season. Yet 13 of them failed to make the playoffs at all. That includes four of the past eight (the Steelers twice, Buccaneers and Patriots).

Read the rest of the story here.

Nicely edited. Using pre-game footage from Superbowl of Jay Z and Rhianna.

By James Varney, The Times-Picayune

May 13, 2010, 5:59PM

The New Orleans Saints announced late Thursday they released defensive tackle Rodney Leisle and added wide receivers Larry Beavers and Andy Tanner, in addition to the previously reported signing of wide receiver Roy Hall.

Leisle, 29, was a fifth-round pick by the Saints in 2004, who played in 18 games. Last year, Leisle appeared in one game before being placed on injured reserve with a knee injury..

Beavers, 5 feet 10, 186 pounds, first arrived in the NFL via Division III school Wesley College as an undrafted free agent with Carolina in 2009. He holds the NCAA record with 13 kick returns for touchdowns (10 on kickoffs; 3 on punts). In the 2009 preseason he caught two passes for the Panthers for 31 yards, averaged 2.8 yards on four punt returns and had one kickoff return for 24 yards before being waived.

Tanner (6-0, 183) played collegiately at Division II Midwestern Sate. In 38 games he caught 120 passes for 1,716 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was invited to the Saints rookie camp last week on a tryout basis.

Hall has seen his NFL career cut short by injuries since being a fifth round draft pick by Indianapolis out of Ohio State in 2007. He has played in just seven career games and has one catch for 9 yards. Hall has also made five tackles on special teams.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

By Peter Finney, Times-Picayune
May 12, 2010, 6:26AM

My, how the landscape changed.

A year ago, Mickey Loomis had already sat down with Sean Payton in a number of brainstorm sessions dealing with an 8-8 season.

“We knew how close we were,” the general manager said. “We were aware of the problems.”

The head coach knew as well.

Then, just like that, it seemed, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl.

By James Varney, The Times-Picayune May 12, 2010, 4:28AM

There are more than a couple of things forgettable about the early New Orleans Saints. Two of the more memorable things that followed, however, will be on the stage at Canton, Ohio, this summer.

Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, the first through-and-through black-and-gold player to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, officially announced this week he has chosen Saints owner Tom Benson to present him when he takes his place among the game’s immortals.

Those layers of history weren’t lost on Benson’s acknowledgment of the honor Tuesday.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Saints could have a long-term offer to running back Pierre Thomas as early as tomorrow, a source told FOX 8 Sports.

The team tendered Thomas at a second round level after the season, a one-year deal that would have been worth $1.68 million.

Thomas has not signed that tender in hopes of reaching a long-term agreement with the team.

The Saints had originally tendered guard Jahri Evans at the end of the season but then gave the former 4^th round pick the richest contract in NFL history for an interior lineman.

Originally coming to the Saints an undrafted free agent out of Illinois, Thomas has averaged over 5.1 yards a carry and scored 22 touchdowns during his three seasons in New Orleans.

Story from fox8live

By The Times-Picayune

May 10, 2010, 5:35PM

In response to Mike Triplett’s report that the New Orleans Saints owe the New England Patriots a sixth-round pick for David Thomas in 2010, nola.com reader still504ever had this to say:

“Well worth the pick and price tag of re-signing him for the 1 yr tender. He proved himself to be a solid and versatile player last season,so I expect him to be even better this season with a chance to go through training camp with the team.He along with Shockey and Jimmy Graham are going to give defenses nightmares,especially when you couple that with the rest of the Saints receiving core.”

What a turn around the Saints secondary had. They went from being the most maligned position on the team, to HEROS!!! Watch it all in this video.

Another terrific Saints video. If you are a Vikings fan you may not want to watch, it lingers a little on poor Favre. WHO DAT!