The Bensons Waited Too Late To Take Charge With Brees

My advice to Tom Benson was valid, but he didn’t take it:

"Tom, make a phone call, get out your checkbook and handle it. Get Drew signed. We’re running out of time, and nobody else seems to have the cajonies to do it."

What happened? We’ll never know, but perhaps the bounty scandal hit Benson so hard that he felt like he fell out of his pirot into bayou quicksand with an alligator gnawing at his azz. For whatever reason, either Tom lost focus or Mickey Loomis jumped the gun and slapped Brees with the franchise tag before they even had to.

If you think you were surprised, so was Mike Triplett of Nola.com. He had assurances from the Saints that “All is Well in the Crescent City” so at 11:35 this morning he posted the following article:

"New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis still focused on free agency, Drew Brees deal"

Yeah, right. “Not to worry, it’s still early Saturday morning and we have lots of time left”. Imagine Mike’s surprise a mere 3 hours later when the Canal Street Chronicles posted this one:

"Saints Place Franchise Tag on Drew Brees"

Triplett likely felt like I did, amazed that the Saints jumped the gun before they had to. There was still more than a day left to negotiate. Now the Saints aren’t caught in a bad luck snowball effect, it’s a full scale avalanche.

We blew our one exclusive franchise tag, and now we have Colston and Nicks swinging in the breeze. If that’s not bad enough already, Tom Sawyer would say “You can’t swing a dead cat in the Saints locker room without hitting a free agent”.

Ok Tom, last chance. Don’t wait until Monday to head for your office, do it tomorrow. Make some calls, roust everyone out of bed. Get back to work Tom and take charge; the team needs you.