The Cardinals are set to face the Saints tomorrow to determine who will head to the NFC Championship game, and here at Revenge of the Birds we'll dive into something a little different. One frequent question we ask here is who we'd take from the opposing team. Don't take anything personnel either Saints fans, just some friendly discussion about who we'd nab from your team. It can be a young or older player, a starter or a back up, etc. You can also take their current contract status into consideration, as if we were actually signing the player. Also look at who may be leaving our team after this season. Here are some of my picks.
Drew Brees, QB: With the Warner retirement talks surfacing already it's becoming more and more of a reality that Warner will no longer be in the NFL in the next year or so. With that being said, adding one of the top quarterbacks in the league who still has many years in the NFL ahead of him would be a no-brainer. Brees is the captain of the offense and brings accurate passing and deep throws to every game. Giving him Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston and now Early Doucet would make the Cardinals extremely dangerous and one of the best offenses in the league for years to come.
Tracy Porter, CB: If we learned anything from last week's game it's that the Cardinals need help at corner. They already have a star-in-the-making in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, but Bryant McFadden is not the answer at the other corner spot. Porter is still very young but has already proven to be a corner with a promising career ahead of him. Pairing him him DRC would give the Cardinals a tandem that no NFL team would want to deal with, especially with Adrian Wilson and Antrel Rolle at the safety positions.
Jabari Greer, CB: Just as I'd take Porter to replace McFadden, I'd take Greer to replace whoever the Cardinals have at the nickel position. McFadden wasn't the only Cardinal to struggle last week as the Packers exploited the Cardinals depth at cornerback all game long. Ralph Brown is towards the end of his career and right now we don't know if Michael Adams will ever be a quality back up corner. Greer has been in the league a few years but has come on this season. He had 2 picks and 13 passes defended this year in only about half a season. When Greer was out the Saints pass defense was noticeably struggling.
Jahri Evans, G: One of the lesser known players outside of New Orleans is their Pro Bowl offensive guard, Jahri Evans. He's a stalwart on the Saints offensive line and brings very good run blocking and superb pass blocking to the Saints offense. Out of the 64 games he's been with the Saints, he's started all 64. The 6'4 318 pound lineman has only allowed 2 sacks and 5 penalties all year. The best part is that he's only 26 years old and seems to only be progressing each year.
That's it for my picks, and as you can see, there's certainly many you can make from a very deep Saints squad. Who would you take from the Saints and why?