Saints Admit Interest in Edgerrin James

Earlier this offseason, Sean Payton broke down the Saints' personnel objectives into needs and wants. Among the needs: safety, corner. Among the wants: power running back. They were close to obtaining the latter in last month's draft, when they almost swung a deal to move up and select Beanie Wells. Alas, they didn't, thus they're currently still left wanting.

The team that did wind up selecting Wells, Arizona, pushed a disgruntled Edgerrin James out of town to make room for the rookie. Now, the Saints are looking at Edge to fill the power-back role in New Orleans.

"There's been talk about Edgerrin James, and we've spent some time evaluating that prospect," Loomis said. "We'll continue to do that. We haven't made any decision or closed any doors on acquiring another running back if we feel that's something we need to do. We do feel a lot better about what we have in-house than people do outside of our building."

That's the thing (emphasis mine) -- Payton called a power running back a want because the Saints have a few options for that role already on the roster. First there's Pierre Thomas, who shouldn't be discounted because of his size. Thomas has proven he can run between the tackles. There's also Mike Bell and Lynell Hamilton, who as it stands now would compete to be the No. 3 back. Both backs showed promise, and Bell has legitimate NFL experience. There's also new fullback Heath Evans, who ran some short-yardage in New England, and undrafted free agents P.J. Hill and Herb Donaldson, both coveted coming out of the draft. One of them has a real chance at making the roster with a strong summer. In other words, the Saints aren't desperate.

As for James, he'll be 31 by the time the season starts and, solid playoff performance aside, it's not hard to see a declining skill set. If the Saints were to sign James, why did they release Deuce McAllister? Though he has two surgically repaired knees, Deuce showed last year that he was capable of five to seven carries a game, he's younger than James, already knows the offense, and is beloved both in the locker room and in the community. The team could benefit from James' pass-blocking skills, but they have the flexibility to shape the running back depth chart on their terms, not someone else's.

Speaking of terms, why would Edge want to join the Saints? His beef in Arizona rested in getting too few carries. There's no way he receives more in New Orleans, as he'll be sitting behind Thomas and Reggie Bush. Unless he's realized that he'll have to make concessions to find a new home, and is playing more for a championship at this point, I don't see the appeal.

For either side.