Five failed Saints free agents from the past five years

Like the rest of the NFL, the New Orleans Saints have done a lot of work in the front office trying to improve their team. Not all moves have panned out, sadly. There were plenty of times where

Brandon Browner

Browner's tenure with the Saints can be summed up with Twitter tirades, media run-ins, and penalties. Browner was praised for his leadership, something that the Saints were hoping to gain after a very lackluster and dark 2014. Browner, who ended up signing a three-year, $15 million deal with the team, appeared in all 16 games for New Orleans in 2015, and that would end up being his last season in the NFL. Needless to say, Browner wasn't liked during his time with the Saints by fans. In an Instagram post following the season, Browner stated that he "took that few millions (and) ran with it".

He attempted to latch on to the Seahawks the following season, but would never see the field again. In 2018, that's when things got ugly. TMZ reported that Browner was jailed for domestic battery in May 2018, and was later sentenced to 8 years in prison for attempted murder.

C.J. Spiller

Sean Payton has always preached that the best ability in a player is their availability, and that was never the case for Spiller. After several successful seasons in Buffalo, New Orleans signed the Clemson product to a four-year, $18 million that included $9 million in guarantees. He'll be forever known for helping the Saints get their first win of the 2015 season, when he caught a wheel route from Drew Brees to take it 80 yards to the house to defeat the Cowboys in overtime.

Sadly, the production and reps declined for Spiller, as the Saints cut ties with him by the second game of the 2016 season after being a healthy inactive. After a few weeks, Spiller got picked up by the Seahawks and had a brief stint with them and the Jets from the end of September to the beginning of December. He'd somewhat find a home with the Chiefs in February 2017, and end up getting signed/released a total of nine times in less than a year. Just recently, he was announced to the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Nick Fairley

There was a lot to love about the addition of Nick Fairley after being signed by the Saints in 2016. The team took a chance on him on a $5 million deal for one year, and he delivered. As a result, Fairley was given a four-year, $30 million contract extension in the offseason. On June 26, 2017, Fairley was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list for a lingering heart condition discovered earlier in the month.

Ultimately, Fairley was released on February 5, 2018, and the Saints filed some grievances involving his contract, which ultimately led to a $3 million cap credit for 2018. Fairley then had some off-the-field troubles involving threatening someone with a gun at the end of November 2018. After his arrest, he was reportedly bonded out some 70 minutes afterwards.

Coby Fleener

Unfortunately, the story isn't a really good one for Coby Fleener. However, things were very promising, as New Orleans landed the free agent tight end on a 5-year, $36 million deal in March 2016. His first season with the Saints was very underwhelming after appearing in all 16 games. Fleener followed that up with a very lackluster 2017, appearing in 11 games. For perspective, he finished with 295 receiving yards, and 91 of those came in Week 11's come-from-behind victory over the Redskins.

One game later, Fleener suffered a nasty concussion that put him on injured reserve for the rest of the year. The Saints released him on May 7, 2018, and he's not been on a team since. Part of that reason was him saying he was still suffering from concussion symptoms in June 2018 after the hit against the Rams.

Kurt Coleman

The Saints were looking to improve their secondary after the 2017 season, and decided to add the veteran safety, signing Coleman to a three-year, $16.35 million deal with $6.2 million in guarantees. Thanks to the strong play of Vonn Bell, it made it hard for Coleman to get on the field.

Coleman was active for all 16 games for the Saints, appearing in 385 snaps (34.85 percent) for the defense. He was released by the team on February 21, 2019, and eventually latched on with the Buffalo Bills in July, only notching 3 tackles in the 14 games he was active in last season.

Dishonorable mentions

James Laurinaitis - After many stellar seasons with the Rams, Laurinaitis inked a 3-year, $8.25 million deal with New Orleans in March 2016. Sean Payton named him starter at middle linebacker, pairing him with the likes of Dannell Ellerbe and Stephone Anthony. Things started out pretty nicely for Laurinaitis, but an injury suffered against the Falcons in Week 3 was his undoing. He appeared in 5 total games for the Saints, and was placed on injured reserve on November 5, 2016. Less than two weeks later, he was released from it and never got on to another team.
Adrian Peterson - There was tons of excitement bringing in the former Vikings running back, as he signed a 2-year, $7 million deal with the Saints at the end of April 2017. His stint lasted less than six months, as he was traded away to the Cardinals. Part of that had to do with the emergence of Alvin Kamara, who paired extremely well with Mark Ingram.
Tom Savage - Backup quarterbacks were never really a big deal to the Saints with Drew Brees at the helm, but there was a need entering 2018, and Savage's deal wasn't hurting anything financially. However, New Orleans made a huge splash by trading for Teddy Bridgewater, who was pronounced the backup. Savage would be released on September 1, 2018, and bounced around several teams since then.