PA Season Ticket Holder
04-27-2003, 06:47 PM
It took a day for the ripple effect to impact veteran Norman Hand, but just more than 24 hours after New Orleans moved up in the first round to snatch Jonathan Sullivan on Saturday afternoon, the gambit was more than enough to move the eight-year defensive tackle off the Saints roster.
The Saints, weary of Hand's perennial battle of the bulge and insistent that his inability to stop the run in 2002 was one of the primary causes of their defensive collapse, dealt him to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday for a sixth-round draft choice.
New Orleans used the sixth-round choice, the 203rd selection overall, to take wide receiver Kareem Kelly of Southern California. And the Saints will use Sullivan, a University of Georgia standout, to supplant Hand in their lineup.
"After we got Jonathan Sullivan on the first pick, it made one of (the team's veterans) the odd-man out," said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis. "Ultimately we decided that, with the salary and the situation we had, that it would be good for Norman and our team if we moved him."
The Saints surrendered two first-round draft choices on Saturday, dealing them to Arizona, to move up 11 spots on the draft board and grab Sullivan. The first-rounder will join Grady Jackson, another underachieving tackle who has battled weight problems throughout his career, in the lineup.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/columnist?id=1545487
The Saints, weary of Hand's perennial battle of the bulge and insistent that his inability to stop the run in 2002 was one of the primary causes of their defensive collapse, dealt him to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday for a sixth-round draft choice.
New Orleans used the sixth-round choice, the 203rd selection overall, to take wide receiver Kareem Kelly of Southern California. And the Saints will use Sullivan, a University of Georgia standout, to supplant Hand in their lineup.
"After we got Jonathan Sullivan on the first pick, it made one of (the team's veterans) the odd-man out," said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis. "Ultimately we decided that, with the salary and the situation we had, that it would be good for Norman and our team if we moved him."
The Saints surrendered two first-round draft choices on Saturday, dealing them to Arizona, to move up 11 spots on the draft board and grab Sullivan. The first-rounder will join Grady Jackson, another underachieving tackle who has battled weight problems throughout his career, in the lineup.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/columnist?id=1545487