Larry Warford situation

[AFJF 43,472]

Most of us wanted him the second he was let go and there was a lot of talk about how many teams would be interested in him.  Almost two weeks later he's still on the market and you'd have to imagine the Saints made calls to see if there was any trade value.

Cimini said recently that he was told his play declined down the stretch in 2019 which played a role in N.O. dumping him and we've all seen and heard about his agility issues.

Would you still bring him in for $7 million or have you cooled on the idea?

[CTJetsFan 1,649]

Gonna trust Joe D on this one. If he thought Warford was a better scheme fit and upgrade over Winters, I would think Winters would be cut by now and his cap savings put towards an offer to Warford.

[AFerg726 27]

Winters is terrible and injured. Warford being a Saints cap casualty still makes sense. Warford doesn't need to be a Pro Bowler to make a meaningful difference for this team. Declining play in the final few weeks can be explained away by being banged up. There could be medical concerns that are more difficult to flesh out with the current COVID situation or teams, us included, could be leaking this stuff to drive down his price. If he is going to be healthy, don't overthink this. 

[Dcat 12,423]

3 reasons why the Saints released Larry Warford

The New Orleans Saints released starting right guard Larry Warford on Friday, bringing his 3-Yr tenure with the team to an end. The move does not surprise most, but the Saints now look to replace a three-year starter on one of the NFL’s top offensive lines. As we all know, professional football is a business though, and one where hard decisions have to be made. Here are the principal reasons the Saints moved on from their Pro Bowl offensive lineman.

PERFORMANCE

Warford went to the Pro Bowl in all three of his seasons with the Saints but we saw a significant drop-off in his performance in 2019. Warford was repeatedly beaten in pass protection, especially by more athletic defensive linemen. That was on display in the biggest game of the 2019 season for the Saints, a first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings sacked quarterback Drew Brees three times and knocked him down several more in the game. Many of those were from inside pressure, including one that forced a key second half fumble when the Saints were in scoring position during the second half. The entire New Orleans offensive line played poorly, but the interior spots were particularly atrocious.

Warford’s pass blocking deteriorated down the stretch of the year but his run blocking remained stellar at the point of attack. One area he struggled with however was getting outside when asked to pull around the edge or getting to the spot in a timely manner on screen passes, an enormous part of the Saints offense. Warford has never been a top of the line athlete, but his weight and conditioning were both issues with the coaching staff last year.

CESAR RUIZ

Saints Head Coach Sean Payton singled out the interior offensive line as an area that he expected improvement from at the end of last season. New Orleans addressed that when they spent their 1st round draft choice, 24th overall, on Michigan center Cesar Ruiz. The 20-Yr old Ruiz was one of the top interior linemen available and is a terrific technician who adds athleticism and versatility to the offensive line. Either Ruiz or last year’s 2nd round pick Erik McCoy will slide into Warford’s right guard spot with the other to man the center position.

Either McCoy or Ruiz presents an athletic upgrade over Warford at guard, and will allow the New Orleans offense to take better advantage of the gamebreaking abilities of running back Alvin Kamara over the right side. With the recent re-signing of 26-Yr old left guard Andrus Peat, all three of the Saints interior starters are under the age of 27 and under contract through the 2022 season.

SALARY

Warford, who turns 29 in June, was entering the last year of his contract and was to count $12.875 million dollars against the Saints salary cap in 2020, one of the highest salaries on the team. His release creates $5.125 million in dead cap money this season, but will open up $7.75 million dollars of cap space. That extra money may allow the Saints to bring in another free agent, like an extra pass rusher or additional depth at cornerback or receiver.

Larry Warford was a vital contributor to the Saints offensive success over the last three seasons and has already attracted some interest on the free agent market. New Orleans made the tough decision to move on from him, but in the process not only opened up salary cap space but also got younger and more athletic along their offensive line.

[bitonti 42,785]

the real question Jets fans aren't asking themselves is why would Larry Warford want to play for the Jets?

Pro Bowl players have options. 

[Jetsfan80 121,198]

29 minutes ago, bitonti said:

the real question Jets fans aren't asking themselves is why would Larry Warford want to play for the Jets?

Pro Bowl players have options. 

It's been pretty quiet on that front.  Is he weighing his many options currently?  Or is his $7M price tag too high?

[Bruce Harper 3,855]

I'd rather sign Peters and play Becton at left guard for a year.

[BigRy56 6,257]

I don’t know why everybody thinks we’d be replacing Winters. He’s Lewis’/Van Roten’s backup and will probably be cut.
 

Winters has already been replaced... I don’t see us replacing the replacements before they even practice together

[Barry McCockinner 14,678]

5 minutes ago, Bruce Harper said:

I'd rather sign Peters and play Becton at left guard for a year.

Becton is starting at LT week 1.

[KRL 11,999]

55 minutes ago, Dcat said:

3 reasons why the Saints released Larry Warford

The New Orleans Saints released starting right guard Larry Warford on Friday, bringing his 3-Yr tenure with the team to an end. The move does not surprise most, but the Saints now look to replace a three-year starter on one of the NFL’s top offensive lines. As we all know, professional football is a business though, and one where hard decisions have to be made. Here are the principal reasons the Saints moved on from their Pro Bowl offensive lineman.

PERFORMANCE

Warford went to the Pro Bowl in all three of his seasons with the Saints but we saw a significant drop-off in his performance in 2019. Warford was repeatedly beaten in pass protection, especially by more athletic defensive linemen. That was on display in the biggest game of the 2019 season for the Saints, a first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings sacked quarterback Drew Brees three times and knocked him down several more in the game. Many of those were from inside pressure, including one that forced a key second half fumble when the Saints were in scoring position during the second half. The entire New Orleans offensive line played poorly, but the interior spots were particularly atrocious.

Warford’s pass blocking deteriorated down the stretch of the year but his run blocking remained stellar at the point of attack. One area he struggled with however was getting outside when asked to pull around the edge or getting to the spot in a timely manner on screen passes, an enormous part of the Saints offense. Warford has never been a top of the line athlete, but his weight and conditioning were both issues with the coaching staff last year.

CESAR RUIZ

Saints Head Coach Sean Payton singled out the interior offensive line as an area that he expected improvement from at the end of last season. New Orleans addressed that when they spent their 1st round draft choice, 24th overall, on Michigan center Cesar Ruiz. The 20-Yr old Ruiz was one of the top interior linemen available and is a terrific technician who adds athleticism and versatility to the offensive line. Either Ruiz or last year’s 2nd round pick Erik McCoy will slide into Warford’s right guard spot with the other to man the center position.

Either McCoy or Ruiz presents an athletic upgrade over Warford at guard, and will allow the New Orleans offense to take better advantage of the gamebreaking abilities of running back Alvin Kamara over the right side. With the recent re-signing of 26-Yr old left guard Andrus Peat, all three of the Saints interior starters are under the age of 27 and under contract through the 2022 season.

SALARY

Warford, who turns 29 in June, was entering the last year of his contract and was to count $12.875 million dollars against the Saints salary cap in 2020, one of the highest salaries on the team. His release creates $5.125 million in dead cap money this season, but will open up $7.75 million dollars of cap space. That extra money may allow the Saints to bring in another free agent, like an extra pass rusher or additional depth at cornerback or receiver.

Larry Warford was a vital contributor to the Saints offensive success over the last three seasons and has already attracted some interest on the free agent market. New Orleans made the tough decision to move on from him, but in the process not only opened up salary cap space but also got younger and more athletic along their offensive line.

The performance issue was stark particularly in the NO/SF game I saw this week on NFL Network.

Any play in space Warford had a hard time locating/blocking LB, tons of "whiffs" where his man made the tackle 

[Prez33 386]

I recall Douglas saying positive things about Winters during a visit with the Kay show over a month ago.  It wasn’t the usual just being polite comments either. He went into detail about Winter’s toughness and how he envisioned him being a Jet moving forward. 
 

It’s also been talked about that JD likes athleticism and versatility in his linemen. He’s shown that with the recent signings and draft picks (Fant, McGovern, Becton, Clarke). With Warford, we look at the name and the pro bowls as fans, but I think JD looks at the scheme fit. 

[bitonti 42,785]

36 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

It's been pretty quiet on that front.  Is he weighing his many options currently?  Or is his $7M price tag too high?

here's an option, wait until TC is over and contenders need a Pro Bowl guard 

[Bruce Harper 3,855]

42 minutes ago, Barry McCockinner said:

Becton is starting at LT week 1.

Agree that is probably the case.  But, for example, when the Ravens drafted Ogden they played him at guard for a year to ease him in.  With Peters at LT for a year, Becton likely would kill at guard and improve the line dramatically in two places.  He is faster and moves much better than Warford. 

[Lil O 277]

2 hours ago, CTJetsFan said:

Gonna trust Joe D on this one. If he thought Warford was a better scheme fit and upgrade over Winters, I would think Winters would be cut by now and his cap savings put towards an offer to Warford.

I think we have until June 1st to make a decision on whether or not to cut Winters...and Avery W as well.  If we plan on making a move it will probably happen next week. But it does seem like JD is a fan of Winters.

[varjet 3,840]

Its good that Warford and Winters got their money.

It does not sound like Norwell earned the money the Jaguars paid him.

I just don’t know how much teams pay Guards anymore.    

The Saints, who know what they are doing, are drafting OL and letting go the overpaid veterans.  Seems smart to me. 

I don’t know what JD is thinking with the Winters contract.  

[UnknownJetFan 1,205]

4 hours ago, AFJF said:

Most of us wanted him the second he was let go and there was a lot of talk about how many teams would be interested in him.  Almost two weeks later he's still on the market and you'd have to imagine the Saints made calls to see if there was any trade value.

Cimini said recently that he was told his play declined down the stretch in 2019 which played a role in N.O. dumping him and we've all seen and heard about his agility issues.

Would you still bring him in for $7 million or have you cooled on the idea?

Seems signing players like Gore for ~1M is a very different story right now than signing anyone for 5M+ since those will generally carry guaranteed money of a good amount of Millions, which no owner will want to do with the delay of the season and how long it maybe be in question.

[#27TheDominator 211,149]

I'm not a big fan of paying any of these guys $7M, but for all the people questioning whether Winters is a fit - IIRC he ran a 4.7 short shuttle.  Warford ran a 5.1.  That is a huge difference. In a world where Van Roten and Lewis are getting in the $4-5M range, I don't think $7M for Winters is outrageous.

[Philc1 13,572]

Sounds like we are set at OL.  Only change might be signing Peters to play LT and Becton starting at one of the Guard spots

[GreenReaper 685]

JD is not going to put a Warford slow slug square peg...into a wide splits and in-out zone blocking round hole...of quick athletic OL.  He's more of a man blocking mauler.  Warford would be...lost in space...trying to get out and execute at the 2nd level...in Gase's blocking schemes.   

The more similar the alignment of the OL skill set is...the better...in unison...the execution of plays will be. 

Peters makes more sense...as a last OL addition...if JD is looking to go in that direction.