I get the financial case for cutting Curtis Lofton. It would make some sense even if the New Orleans Saints weren’t in a salary-cap bind.
Lofton was due $7.25 million in salary and bonuses this year. That’s too high for almost any inside linebacker in the NFL -- much less a player who has hovered just below the Pro Bowl level throughout a solid seven-year career.
But Lofton won’t be easily replaced, on or off the field.
Especially for a team that just had the worst defense in the NFL last year by some metrics. Especially for a team that has been preaching the need for improved leadership and professionalism.
This isn’t the same as when New Orleans let go of aging veterans like Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper and Jabari Greer last year, because those guys were past their primes. And even then, the Saints admitted that those moves wound up hurting more than they realized from a leadership standpoint.
Now, the Saints are letting go of a guy who may have just had his best season yet in his three years in New Orleans.
Lofton was arguably one of the Saints’ most valuable players in 2014, ranking fourth in the NFL with 145 tackles while serving as a captain and “quarterback” of the defense. From everything I could gather, he was well liked and respected as a leader by both coaches and players, old and young.
They needed more guys like him, not less.
No, Lofton isn’t a superstar. In fact, a lot of NFL analysts were either very down on Lofton last year (Pro Football Focus) or considered him “very ordinary” (ESPN scouting Insider Matt Williamson). And I get that, too. Lofton (6-foot, 241 pounds) isn’t a huge asset in pass coverage or a dynamic athlete who roams from sideline to sideline.
But he’s a terrific inside run defender who often set the tone as hard-hitting “thumper” at the point of attack. Even PFF credited Lofton with more tackles than any player in the league last year (123) and credited him with 58 “stops,” which it calculates as solo tackles that resulted in an offensive failure. PFF credited Lofton with 22 missed tackles, but I know from my own film reviews that even some of those came when he was hustling to try and chase down a play (you may have noticed a few runs breaking into the second and third levels of New Orleans' defense last year).
Plus, Lofton never missed a game in his entire seven-year career while averaging 126 tackles per season with the Saints and Atlanta Falcons. He had minor shoulder surgery a week after the season but didn't miss a game during it.
I won’t be naïve about the reality of the NFL, where it’s usually smart business to dump players whose age and salary have been climbing for too long.
The Saints did the same thing with longtime running back Pierre Thomas last week. And like I pointed out then, they weren’t forced to make either move just because of the salary cap. They had other means they could have used to trim space. They made this move for football reasons as well as financial ones.
The Saints will find cheaper linebackers, and there’s a good chance they’ll fill in adequately. They reportedly kicked the tires on free agent Sean Weatherspoon before he chose the Arizona Cardinals instead. They’ve reportedly shown interest in Tampa Bay’s Mason Foster, among possible others.
But no matter how many newcomers the Saints can afford with that $7.25 million they saved, they'll have to spend it wisely to find a combination of players as dependable on and off the field as Lofton.
