All Things Saints: Your Daily News 2/11

Jan 22, 2014; Koh

We’ll get you caught up on a few stories today, and we sure have some good ones! It’s almost as though the off-season is one big powder keg, and someone just lit the gun powder.

Mike Triplett | ESPN.com | What happens if Graham fights TE tag?

"Here’s how the process would work: If the Saints franchise Graham as a tight end, he and agent Jimmy Sexton could then file a grievance through the NFL Players Association, claiming that Graham should be considered a wide receiver instead. Then the decision would be in the hands of a neutral third-party arbitrator agreed upon by the NFLPA and the NFL Management Council."

I surfaced this a while back when I talked about Insane (But Not Impossible) Predictions on the Saints. It’s a very sticky situation, but if the Union is on Graham’s side, then it bodes well for Graham, but not for the Saints. Drew Brees went through a similar battle during his contract dispute, and emerged victorious. Either way, it’s going to be ugly.

Mike Triplett | ESPN.com | ‘Super’ tough cuts looming for Saints

"“The most challenging part of your job as a coach, and I share that with Mickey or anyone that has been with an organization as long as we have been, going on Year 9, is some of the tough decisions that have to be made with regards to your cap with the ability that you possibly can sign Jimmy Graham,” Payton said. “It’s very easy to say, ‘You are certainly going to get this done.’ But you have to understand there is a budget here. That’s the challenging part."

I have to give myself a pat on the back here, I covered this almost a month ago, talking about the Top 10 Decisions for the New Orleans Saints. Looks like I was pretty spot on. I’m going to go ahead and rip the band-aid off for you. This is going to be a situation where Saints fans have to deal with it. Beloved players that have been with the organization for so long will not be here next season, just come to terms with it. The only hope any of the players have is to take massive pay cuts, and with many of them, their free agent market value isn’t going to be very high.

Katherine Terrell | NOLA.com | New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma says he would be ‘A-OK’ with an openly gay teammate

"“And it’s not to say that the locker rooms are bad, it’s to say that there are going to be people that accept it willingly as soon as he comes in, welcome him with open arms, and then unfortunately, there will be some, I’m about 99 percent sure the minority, will say, well, they’re not comfortable with that yet, they don’t know how to respond to that. That’s just what’s going to happen in the first whatever, the first year, two years. When have more players like Michael Sam coming out and saying that they’re gay, the transition will be a lot smoother.”"

If you haven’t heard this one, be sure to read this article. A lot of strides have been made in today’s NFL in just a short time. The evolution is the game changes, and so does everything that comes along with it. People are quick to jump on anyone who states something under the assumption that it has a negative connotation to it.