It looks like Romeo Crennel couldn’t convince his old nose tackle to join the Kansas City Chiefs as news has broken that Shaun Rogers has signed with the New Orleans Saints.
Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that Rogers has signed a one-year deal with Saints.
Rogers was cut by the Browns last month and visited with the Washington Redskins before coming to Kansas City to meet the Chiefs. The morning after his meeting in KC, Rogers traveled to New Orleans to meet with the Saints.
It remains to be seen why Rogers chose the Saints over the Chiefs. We know that as recently as last Friday that the Chiefs were still interested in Rogers so the meeting obviously went well. It could have been an issue of money or it may just be that Rogers, who is reaching the end of his career, thought the Saints gave him a better chance to win it all right now than the Chiefs.
Regardless of his reasoning, it looks like Rogers will head south next season while the Chiefs’ search for a nose tackle continues.
I said a few weeks ago that I thought signing Rogers was a bad idea. While he can be a force in the middle of the defensive line when healthy, Rogers is nearing the end of the line and the Chiefs need a longer term answer at NT. 2011 will be KC’s third year running the 3-4 defense and NT is widely regarded as the defense’s most crucial position. With all due respect to Sweet Ron Edwards, the time for stopgap NT’s is through. Perhaps missing out on Rogers will force Scott Pioli to find his franchise NT.