New Orleans Saints Cut Several Players In Early Roster Trim

The Saints front office has decided to get a jump on trimming the roster waiving veteran linebacker Troy Evans, corner Danny Gorrer, guard Tim Duckworth, receivers Rod Harper and Mark Bradley late Tuesday night.

The most notable of which is linebacker Troy Evans who has been with the team since signing a two year deal in 2007. Primarily used on special teams, where he was the captain in 2008 and 2009, Evans was also the primary backup at strong side linebacker the last two seasons.

After the departure of former starter Scott Fujita to the Cleveland Browns Evans was considered to be in the mix to start for the Saints in Fujita’s place or at least be used in a rotation of linebacker’s to lock down the strong side.

Second year pro Jonathan Casillas has emerged from a relative unknown to assuredly the starter at weakside linebacker after stellar performances in both of the Saints preseason games. His rise allowed defensive coordinator Greg Williams to move Scott Shanle, a four year starter for the Saints on the weak side, to the strong side thus making Evans a more expendable commodity.

Corner Danny Gorrer entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Saints in 2009 and was eventually cut and resigned to the practice squad. He was signed off by the St.Louis Rams appearing intermittently with them throughout the 2009 season before being waived this off-season and resigned by the Saints.

Gorrer was attempting to crack one of the deepest positions on the Saints roster which is loaded with talent and unfortunately for him Leigh Torrence and Patrick Robinson are both better nickel corners.

Duckworth has been bounced on and off the Saints practice squad over the last three seasons but was never a contributor during regular season play.

Receiver Rod Harper was signed by the way of the Arkansas Twisters last year and most likely would have made the Saints roster after a very good pre-season but an injury landed him on injured reserve before he ever saw any real game action.

Harper’s shot at making the Saints final roster this year all but vanished when receiver Adrian Arrington started to garner the coaching staff’s attention making seven catches for 158 yards and one touchdown through the Saints two preseason games. He is long overdue to make the fifty-three.

Mark Bradley was a recent addition to the team and has been in the league since 2005 when he was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round. Injuries and inconsistency derailed what may have been a promising career as Bradley has freakish speed for his size.

The Saints were interested enough to kick the tires in him but apparently not interested enough to keep him around after seeing what he had to offer over recent weeks.