The New Orleans Saints purged some veteran contracts on Wednesday. The most notable name released, at least as far as we’re concerned, was safety Roman Harper.
That’s right, a safety! Even though the Saints deemed Harper not good enough to hang onto, we feel pretty confident in saying that even the Saints’ trash is better than any safety currently on the Green Bay Packers roster.
Do we expect the Packers to sign Harper? No. We expect the Packers to sit around with their thumbs up their asses until the draft rolls around. But we can pretend the Packers might one day operate like the rest of the NFL and, I don’t know, maybe at least bring Harper in for a workout.
Because he was released, Harper is a free agent now. He doesn’t have to wait until March to sign with a team like the guys whose contracts are expiring. He can sign with someone tomorrow if he so pleases.
What would a team get with Harper? They’d be getting a 31-year-old two-time Pro Bowler (2009-10). They’d also be getting a guy coming off a fairly underwhelming season.
In 2013, Harper had 39 tackles and one interception in nine games (six starts). However, Harper had at least 89 tackles each season from 2007 to 2012. In fact, 2012 was arguably his best season. He had career highs in tackles (115) and passes defended (11). He also had two interceptions.
The season prior, he registered a career-high 7.5 sacks. That’s the same number of sacks Clay Matthews led the Packers with in 2013.
Can the Packers do better than Harper? Yeah, they can, but we’re probably going to sit here and point out every available safety until they actually make a move.
If there’s any hope for Harper and the Packers, it really comes down to this. His contract with the Saints averaged $3.5 million per season, which is fairly reasonable. His next contract will probably be for less than that and Ted Thompson loves bargain shopping.
He’s probably at Family Dollar buying pudding right now.
Delmas axed too.
Didn’t Roman Harper play for the Pack a few years back? I seem to remember the name….
You might be thinking of Darren Sharper.
Think you’re actually thinking of Mark Roman. Signed in ’04, played a couple of years then got cut.
No no no. Roman Harper is not a good idea.
That means we probably won’t be able to sign FS Malcolm Jenkins away from the Saints. Since Burnett’s best position is Strong Safety, we need to find a Free Safety.