No contract talks yet between OG Mankins and Patriots

The New England Patriots offensive guard Logan Mankins is now in embarrassment as he has not signed his free agent tender while the Patriots have not offered a new contract to him. What’s even worse, he has no way to check what he may get as a bottom line because the team did not contact him or his agent to start a contract negotiation.

“There’s nothing that’s happened," Mankins' agent, Frank Bauer, told the Boston Herald. "We haven’t heard from them. Everyone in the NFL is on vacation. We just have to see what happens.”

Mankins himself did not appear for any of the team’s offseason workouts during the past few months, and he was seen only one working out with a group of young local school players wearing Brett Favre jerseys or Saints jerseys. For most of the offseason, he was complaining that the Patriots broke their promise of giving him a long-term deal. He said he got the promise before the offseason, but did not hear any more information since the beginning of offseason.

We are not sure about the fact, and the Patriots have not made much explanation on the dispute. The only move they made is to reduce Mankins’ free agent tender from $3.26 million to $1.54 million when he refused to sign on the tender before an NFL deadline. It was the player’s agent Bauer who explained that the team hesitated because of a lack of CBA.

Saints’ choices in 2010 draft are still worth expectation

Although quite a few people think that the New Orleans Saints picked too many offensive rookies but showed somewhat ignorance with the defensive line, some other people, judging from the team’s success with draft picks during the past few years, believe that the Saints newly drafted rookies will prove they are the right choices.

Since 2006, the Saints have successfully turned low-round picks into popular star players who used to be selected into Pro Bowls and win Super Bowl rings. Such examples include former seventh-round pick Marques Colston, six-round pick Zack Strief, sixth-round pick Carl Nicks and fourth-round picks Jahri Evans and Jermon Bushrod. The team also managed to prove their high-round picks all deserve the original expectations. Former first-round picks like Jammal Brown, Reggie Bush, Robert Meachem and Sedrick Ellis were all with team in the Super Bowl XLIV victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Now we can have a look at the rookies drafted by Saints from the 2010 NFL draft. Cornerback Patrick Robinson has proven he could be a playmaker with his performance in college football career; defensive tackle AI Woods is highly expected to develop into a great professional player; tackle Charles Brown is widely recognized as a talent young player and tight end Jimmy Graham has the potential to be another valuable weapon of the team. Therefore, the Saints fans do have quite a few reasons to get their beloved Saints jerseys ready with the belief that the team will have another winning season.