34-year old center Olin Kreutz has walked away from the New Orleans Saints.  He has been placed on the Left Team List and he will be eventually released.  He said that he lost his passion for the game.  Kreutz played in 4 games (all starts) for the Saints this year.  He has played in 195 games (187 starts) in his first fifteen years in the NFL.  26-year old Brian De La Puente will now be the starting center for the Saints.  He has played in 6 games (2 starts) so far this year for the Saints.  This should help the Saints running game as Kreutz was a little light in the shoes weight wise.

The Saints have released 32-year old DE Alex Brown.  Brown played in all 16 games for the Saints last year and he had 39 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and 3 passes defensed.  The Saints might try to bring back Brown for 2011, but he reportedly has generated a lot of interest in his services already.

The New Orleans Saints release 31-year old OT John Stinchcomb.  Stinchcomb played in 16 games (all starts) for the Saints last year.  He played in 90 games (80 starts) in his 8 years with the Saints.  The Saints have added a lot of quality depth in the off-season to the offensive line which led to Stinchcomb’s release.

The Saints have released 25-year old RB Lynell Hamilton.  Hamilton did not play last season due to injury.  Hamilton played in 10 games (1 start) in his three seasons with the Saints and he carried the ball 35 times for 125 yards (3.6 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 5 passes for 48 yards (9.6 avg) for the Saints.  The Saints are loaded at RB and did not have a need for Hamilton anymore.

The Saints have released 24-year old linebacker Stanley Arnoux and 39-year old long snapper Jason Kyle.  Arnoux played in 9 games for the Saints last year in his first year with the team and he had 5 tackles and 2 forced fumbles.  Jason Kyle played in 9 games for the Saints last year and he played in 25 of them in his two years with New Orleans.  Neither of these players will be much of a loss for the Saints.

The Saints have released 29-year old CB Randall Gay.  Gay played in 4 games for the Saints last year and he had 5 tackles.  Gay played in 31 games in his 3 years with the Saints and he had 94 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception and he defensed 20 passes.  I don’t think this is much of a loss for the Saints as Gay is starting to lose it as a player.

The New Orleans Saints have released 30-year old TE Jeremy Shockey.  Shockey played in 13 games for the Saints last season and he caught 41 passes for 408 yards (10.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He played in 38 games in 3 years with the Saints in which he caught 139 passes for 1,460 yards (10.5 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  The Saints are still in good shape at TE without Shockey as veteran David Thomas & 2nd year man Jimmy Graham appear more than capable of replacing him.

The Saints have signed 21-year old rookie long snapper Justin Drescher out of Colorado.  Drescher will be replacing 25-year old Jake Ingram who has been released after only one week.  A bad snap by Ingram last week caused Garrett Hartley to miss a 27-yard field goal and that’s the reason why he’s looking for a new job.

The Saints have released 27-year old linebacker Clint Ingram.  Ingram started this season on the Physically Unable to Perform List.  His problem turned out to be that the Saints’ linebackers played really well while he was out of action which led to his release.  Ingram has played in 56 games in his NFL career and he has 194 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 5.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 2 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  If he’s healthy, Ingram will find another job but the Saints won’t miss him.

The Saints have released 46-year old kicker John Carney.  Carney played in 2 games for the Saints this year and he connected on 5 of 6 field goals (83.3%) and 3 of 3 extra points good for 18 points.  He missed a 29-yard field goal last week against the Cardinals and it seems like he has paid for it now that he’s out of a job.  24-year old Garrett Hartley will be back as the Saints placekicker starting this weekend against the Buccaneers in Tampa.  Hartley has been the placekicker for three games this year for the Saints and he is 4 of 7 (57.1%) on field goals and he is 7 of 7 on extra points good for 19 points.  The Saints expect Hartley to be better this time around because they can’t afford to keep leaving points on the field.