Improvement at safety continues to be a Saints goal with the signing of free agent Pierson Prioleau and the release of Kevin Kaesviharn on Thursday.
Kaesviharn, an eight-year veteran, was due to make $1.6 million in salary and bonuses this season. He started 11 games with the Saints last season before suffering a season-ending neck injury.
Prioleau, 5-11, 188, is a veteran of 10 NFL seasons who played with the 49ers (1999-2000), Bills (2002-2004), Redskins (2005-2007) and the Jaguars last season. He played for Saints new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during stops at Buffalo, Washington and Jacksonville.
Prioleau earned $833,280 at Jacksonville last season where in played in all 16 games, making one start and led the special teams in tackles with 22. He also registered 18 tackles while playing safety and had two passes defensed.
He was a fourth-round choice by the 49ers out of Virginia Tech.
Prioleau will serve as backup to projected starters Darren Sharper and Roman Harper.
The Saints will begin their offseason program on Monday with training camp in Jackson scheduled tentatively to begin on July 29..
The Saints Hall of Fame golf outing is set for May 18.
Hornets in Garden tonight
The Hornets (44-26) are four-point favorites over the stumbling Knicks (28-43) on Friday at night at MadisonSquareGarden at 6:30 p.m.
The Hornets are limping along without starters Tyson Chandler and Peja Stokovic and coach Byron Scott told his team, after research, that in no sport has there ever been a team that relied consistently on offense. The Hornets are fourth in the NBA in scoring defense having allowed 93.41 points per game.
The Knicks have lost six straight games and after a 140-135 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday after blowing a 19-point lead. This loss was their most humiliating of the season.
Saint Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni after the loss, "If it's any other team, I would be laughing because but it's the Knicks and I want to cry. Fate is cruel sometimes."
If the Knicks finish a very possible 4-7 in their last 11 games they will end the season with 50 losses. Two years ago, Isiah Thomas won 33 games with a less talented team.
The job of rebuilding the Knicks is a lot harder than general manager Donnie Walsh and D'Antoni originally believed. The culture of the Garden is so contaminated after eight straight losing seasons that they're going to have to make a lot more changes.
The Hornets return to the Arena on Sunday to entertain the Spurs in a crucial Western Division game that will be televised by ESPN.
SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: JaMarcus Russell as now participating in the Raiders' offseason program. He missed the early training because his mother had surgery in Mobile last week. Earlier this week, Raiders coach Tom Cable questioned the former LSU quarterback's commitment to being great by working out in the program. Patience is no longer a prevailing quality in the NFL and Russell's absence had the coach thinking he might need another quarterback,..It's been nearly two weeks since Browns receiver Donte Stallworth's Bentley collided and killed a pedestrian in Miami. An announcement soon could be made as to whether the former Saints will be charged. Miami police said they expect developments next week. Reports last week indicated that Stallworth's blood sample showed an alcohol concentration exceeding the legal limit. Authorities have been tight-lipped about that specific wrinkle. Even if Stallworth isn't charged, he faces significant civil liability as a result of the accident....
The storm that blew through Baton Rouge overnight caused damage to several athletic facilities on the LSU campus, which included ripping a portion of the roof off the indoor football facility. Other facilities that suffered damage because of the storm include the LSU Soccer Complex, the new Alex Box Stadium and the new TigerPark. The LSU Soccer Complex looks to have sustained the most damage as the grandstands and press box were toppled and destroyed. Dame at both parks included having a portion of the outfield fence toppled over. There was no structural damage at either facility....
I returned to Hattiesburg for a high school reunion last weekend and watched the telecast of the LSU-North Carolina game at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar near the USM campus. It a gathering place for Golden Eagles fans and excellent place to watch a sporting event with its giant TV screens. In the midst of March Madness looms Clark Kellogg, who replaced Billy Packer as CBS's No. 1 college basketball voice. Like many of his analytical ancestors, he speaks in an alternate language. The lane is "the paint," the basket is "the rack," the foul line is :the charity stripe." Players don't just rebound, they either are :banging the glass" or "cleaning up a missed shot." Writes columnist Norman Chad, "for Kellogg, the shortest distance between two points is a circumlocutious statement. He favors multisyllabic words, like "perimeter" and "interior" and "circumlocutious"; heck, he's got to love "multisyllabic " because, we, it's multisyllabic."....Will Vercher builds Saints, LSU and Hornets two-story build houses for fans needing gifts. For info call him at (504)554-054 or go to smokeeewill@yahoo.com..
Improvement at safety continues to be a Saints goal with the signing of free agent Pierson Prioleau and the release of Kevin Kaesviharn on Thursday.
