Curtis Lofton Signs With New Orleans Saints

For more Saints coverage, visit Canal Street Chronicles.

Lofton has been a key contributor for the Falcons in all four of his years with the team. He has started 63 out of 64 professional games in his career and he recorded 147 tackles in 2011.

For more on Bunkley and the Saints, head over to the SB Nation blog Canal Street Chronicles.

For more on Bunkley and the Saints, head over to the SB Nation blog Canal Street Chronicles.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Grubbs will receive a five-year, $36 million deal that includes a $10 million signing bonus. That’s about $11.5 million less than Nicks but Grubbs isn’t that far behind Nicks talent-wise. This is a solid signing by the Saints when compared to Nicks’ deal.

The Saints’ adventurous offseason continues. From the bounty scandal to Drew Brees’ franchise tag, it’s been quite the offseason for New Orleans.

Though Meachem’s arrival coincides with VIncent Jackson’s departure, it remains to be seen if he can fill the shoes left behind by the two-time Pro Bowler. Jackson topped 1,000 receiving yards in three of his last four years, with the lone exception being 2010 when he played in only five games due to injury. He agreed to a five-year, $55 million deal with the Buccaneers on Tuesday.

For more on Meachem, check out Chargers blog Bolts From The Blue and Saints blog Canal Street Chronicles.

Nicks was the Saints’ fifth-round pick in the 2008 NFL draft. He has started all but three games in his four-year NFL career.

For more on the Bucs, head over to Bucs Nation and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

Grubbs was the Ravens’ first-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft. He has started all 16 games in three of his five seasons.

For more free agency updates, go to SB Nation’s Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles.

For more free agency updates, go to SB Nation’s Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles.

Nicks tweeted Monday night, “Y’all know I keep it real on this. My agent told me the saints made me an offer and it is respectable...” He followed that up by tweeting, “Still need time to think and talk with my family.”

With free agency starting soon, plenty of teams will make a last minute push to keep their impending free agents by rushing to try and beat the deadline.

For more free agency updates, go to SB Nation’s Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of physical shape Moss is in. His best asset was his speed and he claims, despite not playing in the NFL last year, that he can still run in the 4.3 seconds range of the 40-yard dash. That’s hard to believe for a 35-year-old who took a year off, but then again, this is Randy Moss. He’s surprised us before.

Moss is a free agent so he’s free to sign anywhere. My guess is that teams will sort through the younger free agents on the market first and then make their way back to Moss. Someone at some point will take a shot on him.

Players designated as a team’s franchisee make the average of the five highest salaries at their position for one year, a number that won’t be determined until the end of free agency though, at the moment, it appears to be between $16 million and $17 million for a quarterback, according to the NFL.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

Loomis was accused by unnamed NFL insiders of downplaying his star quarterback’s ability, ostensibly to avoid paying Brees like an elite player -- despite the fact that, you know, Loomis already tried to make Brees the highest-paid player in the NFL.

In any case, Loomis officially cleared the air, telling the Times-Picayune: “I have always thought of Drew as a great player. Always. Even when his shoulder was damaged (in 2006) I thought he was a great player. That’s why we wanted him, and it’s ridiculous for anyone to think otherwise.” (hat-tip: National Football Post)

But they are entering into dangerous territory, at least as far as the PR game goes. Earlier this week Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Saints GM only wanted to pay Brees as a “very good” not a great quarterback. That, of course, ruffled some feathers.

And now a report comes out -- probably from the team -- that the Saints offered Brees a contract before last season that would have made him the highest paid player in the NFL and he turned it down. Via Larry Holder at CBSSports.com:

According to Cole, the Saints and Brees’ agent, Tom Condon of CAA Football (who negotiated both of the Manning contracts), are over $5 million per year apart on contract talks, which could require Saints owner Tom Benson intervening to get a deal done.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

Teams have until March 5 to tender free agents with the franchise tag, Nicks is expected to get his wish to avoid the franchise tag. Nicks will be one of the most sought after free agent offensive lineman on the open market in 2012.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

Arrington has been with the Saints since being drafted in the seventh round in the 2008 NFL Draft. Amaya has been with the team since 2011 and Drescher signed as a free agent in 2010.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on Wednesday that Brees and the Saints remain “well apart” in talks regarding a long-term contract for the quarterback. Schefter states that if the sides are unable to come to an agreement by Monday, the Saints will apply the franchise tag on Brees. It would be their last day they would be able to do so.

This news may seem somewhat surprising, but if Brees were to hit the open market, he would be by far the best player available this year and money would be no object to obtaining him for many teams. Brees is well aware of his value, as are the Saints. Either way, he won’t be going anywhere.

Nicks’ statements certainly raise eyebrows. If he really wants a record-setting contract, he will be unlikely to receive it from the Saints. It then falls on New Orleans to decide whether or not to place the franchise tag on him.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

One of my favorite Steve Martin bits from his early stand-up, the stuff that used to get released on vinyl, was his advice for getting rich quick.

“How to make a million dollars. First, get a million dollars.”

The three-time Pro Bowl selection has career totals of 543 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 10 interceptions.

For all news and information regarding the New Orleans Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For updates and perspective on the Tennessee Titans, head on over to Music City Miracles. For complete coverage of football free agency, stay tuned to SB Nation’s dedicated NFL hub.

Not only do the Saints have to worry about Colston, but as Pompei mentioned Carl Nicks is also set to be a free agent along with quarterback Drew Brees. Obviously Brees is the main priority for the Saints, but there is only so much money the team can spend on bringing back their own free agents and Nicks and Brees will likely command the most money and Brees could be a target for the Saints’ franchise tag designation.

Colston has picked up at least 1,000 receiving yards in every year of his six-year career, except for the 2008 NFL season, in which Colston played in just 11 games dealing with injuries. Colston was originally drafted by the Saints in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Hofstra, as most teams had Colston pegged as a tight end/wide receiver tweener player.

For more on the Saints, visit Canal Street Chronicles.