Notes: Saints Sign First of Seven Draft Picks
Fifth round pick Pressley signs, Brees visits troops on USO tour

posted July 6, 2008 - print me!
updated July 15, 2008
neworleansprofootball.com

QB Drew Brees

Pressley Signs: The Saints have their first draft pick in, DT DeMario Pressley, signed to a three year contract according to his agent.

Pressley was the Saints' first fifth round pick out of North Carolina State, the third pick of the Saints in the draft.

Read NOPF's scouting report of Pressley here.

To make room for Pressley on the offseason roster, the Saints waived WR Titus Ryan.

Brees Overseas: Saints QB Drew Brees joined NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Giants DE Osi Umenyiora on a seven-day, three country tour with the USO.

Brees visited with troops in Iraq, toured bases in a helicopter, escorted by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This is Brees' third USO trip. His grandfather is a WWII veteran in the Pacific theater.

Goodell is the first sports commissioner to participate in an overseas USO tour. Also among those joining the tour are two Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and the actor who played Peter Petrelli on Heroes, Milo Ventimiglia.

Colston, Evans Underpaid: If the Saints have anything to contribute their salary cap health to, it is a pair of 2006 second-day draft picks. G Jahri Evans, a fourth round pick and WR Marques Colston, a seventh round pick, have vastly outplayed their contracts and are more than deserving of new deals.

Both contracts are expected to be blockbusters for the budding young stars at their positions. Both will be restricted free agents in the 2009 offseason.

Unfortunately, contracts for the Saints' remaining unsigned draft picks, including seventh overall pick Sedrick Ellis, are more pressing for the team.

Notes: Former Saints draft pick QB Adrian McPherson is now playing for the Montreal Allouettes... Saint RB Chris Barclay helped host a Back 2 Basics Football Camp in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky... New Orleans Times-Picayune writer Jeff Duncan won Story of the Year honors at the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for a article he wrote on the 1967 Saints...

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