By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 17, 2010, 2:57PM

The details of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ upcoming autobiography were released Wednesday. Brees will collaborate with author Chris Fabry on the book, which will be titled, “Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity.” It’s scheduled to be released July 6, 2010.

Tyndale House Publishers will publish the book, which will “chronicle the incredible comeback story not only of one of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, but also the rebirth of a city and a team that many had all but written off.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 16, 2010, 4:38PM

New Orleans Saints restricted free agent tailback Mike Bell agreed to the terms of an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent Josh Luchs confirmed. If the Saints want to keep him, they have seven days to match the deal.

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By James Varney, The Times-Picayune

March 16, 2010, 2:07PM

he Philadephia Eagles are reportedly holding a press conference tomorrow morning with Saints running back Mike Bell, a restricted free agent who is extending his visit with the Birds.

Citing an unnamed team sources, The Philadelphia Daily News and other outlets in the City of Brotherly Love are now reporting Bell is likely to sign an offer sheet from the Eagles. Bell, making his second off-season visit after a trip to Seattle, is also scheduled to visit with the Cleveland Browns.

The Saints would have the chance to match any offer made by the Eagles, who are seeking to shore up their running back roster after releasing Brian Westbrook. Should the Saints decline – and the fact they tendered Bell at the salary and compensation minimum indicates they would – the Eagles would owe no compensation because Bell was undrafted coming out of college.

Reported at TP.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 15, 2010, 3:08PM

New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove, a restricted free agent, will visit the Detroit Lions tonight and Tuesday, according to a league source.

The Saints would have the right to match any offer Hargrove might sign with another team. Or if they chose not to match an offer, they would receive a third-round draft pick as compensation — Hargrove’s original draft round.

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By Contributing writer, The Times-Picayune

March 15, 2010, 6:09AM

By Jeff Eisenberg

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIF. – Swing open the door to the athletic training facility owned by New Orleans Saints tight end Billy Miller, and it doesn’t take long to realize this is no run-of-the-mill gym.

There’s Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart running drop-back drills. There’s San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson lifting free weights. And there are maybe a dozen NFL hopefuls stretching before they continue preparation for pre-draft workouts later this month.

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Nice to see where Pierre Thomas is rated !!
RB 2 Pierre Thomas RFA 3 5-11/210 Illinois New Orleans

Check out the entire list here.

O.. overall for the entire NFL # 9 !!

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 13, 2010, 6:07AM

Scott Fujita’s departure didn’t exactly leave the New Orleans Saints‘ cupboard bare at linebacker.

Although General Manager Mickey Loomis said it “remains to be seen” how the Saints will fill the starting job on the strong side of their defense, he pointed out that they have several candidates in-house, including young backups Jonathan Casillas, Stanley Arnoux, Anthony Waters, Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Marvin Mitchell and veteran Troy Evans.

Because the Saints haven’t scheduled any visits with free agent linebackers, Loomis was asked if that means they rank defensive end as a higher priority right now.

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By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

March 12, 2010, 10:04AM

Let’s hope the treatment is royal enough, that the sales pitch is persuasive enough, that the ego is tame enough.

If those factors are aligned, then the New Orleans Saints can sign free agent quarterback Jake Delhomme. And they can upgrade the backup position on the roster by landing a guy who, if he physically is fit and mentally hasn’t been shredded by a final season of nightmarish play in Carolina, the franchise could feel comfortable leading the team if – heaven forbid – something happened to Drew Brees.

Of course, those are two large factors.

Read the rest of the story here.

Quarterback hurries, pressures, hits or whatever you want to call them are not an official NFL statistic.

But I was browsing through the “season-in-review’’ packages of all four NFC South teams last night and noticed each team had something in, or close to, this category. Again, it’s not official and these numbers are calculated by assistant coaches after watching film.

Take the numbers for what they’re worth because, in my experience, they’re very subjective. I’ve seen some assistant coaches be very fair with this type of thing (tackle totals are done the same way) and I’ve also seen some inflate the numbers a bit to make themselves and their players look good.

New Orleans. The Saints call them quarterback hurries and their coaching staff tabulated 98 of them. Predictably, Will Smith led the Saints with 23. Bobby McCray, who was a backup, was second with 13. End/tackle Anthony Hargrove had 11. Starter Charles Grant had 10. But Grant has been released by the Saints. What stands out most about the Saints in this category is that, although only four guys reached double figures, they had a bunch of other players with a fair amount of hurries. That’s a symptom of the aggressive Gregg Williams defense. New Orleans can bring pressure from anywhere. Safety Roman Harper had eight hurries and middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma had seven.

Read the entire story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

March 11, 2010, 5:05PM

I spoke with New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton about the Saints’ first week of free agency and their upcoming visit with quarterback Jake Delhomme, who is scheduled to arrive Friday.

Payton said he goes back with Delhomme, not only having competed against him in the NFC South, but that he spent a lot of quality time with him when Delhomme took a free agent visit to Dallas in 2003. Obviously, several Saints executives also know Delhomme well from his time in New Orleans from 1997-2002.

“He’s someone we certainly have a lot of respect for, having competed against him,” Payton said. “In his mind, I’m sure he’s looking through his options, looking for place he might be able to start, if that exists. And if that doesn’t exist, there could be a lot of reasons for him to come back here.”

Read the rest of the story here.