The Saints have infused a lot of new blood into the defense so they felt they didn’t need Whitehead or Groce around for this season.  DT Whitehead played in 12 games last season for the Saints and he made 13 tackles and had 1 sack.  In 8 seasons with the Saints, Whitehead played in 105 games and he made 216 tackles, had 24.5 sacks, defensed 3 passes, forced 3 fumbles and recovered 3 fumbles.  DeJuan Groce played in 12 games and he made 16 tackles and forced a fumble.  Neither of these losses will hurt the Saints this season.

The Saints were not looking for a running back in this draft, but they couldn’t pass up Antonio Pittman when he slid to the 4th round.  Antonio Pittman is only 5′10″, 195 pounds but he plays much bigger.  He runs with good pad level and he always seems to be going forward.  He’s a good inside runner and he has the speed (4.45 40) to go the distance on any run.  At Ohio State, Pittman played in 36 games (25 starts) and he carried the football 557 times for 2,945 yards (5.3 ypc) with 22 TD runs.  He also caught 37 passes for 314 yards (8.5 avg).  I can’t say enough times what an outstanding pick this was for the Saints.  With Deuce McAllister’s knee bothering him a bit, Pittman could get some playing time this season.  In fact, he eventually will probably replace McAllister at some point if the Saints feel he gets too expensive in the future.