What Teams Will New Orleans Play in 2010?

The New Orleans Saints will open up the defense of their Super Bowl XLIV title with a rematch of the 2009 NFC Championship, starting their 2010 season with two consecutive nationally-broadcast, prime-time contests, it was announced by the NFL today. A club record five prime-time games are on the slate, including their first appearance on Thanksgiving. The Saints will kick off the NFL regular season on Thursday, September 9, when they host the Minnesota Vikings on NBC (7:30 p.m. CT) at the Louisiana Superdome.
After taking on the Vikings, the Saints will be featured in prime-time in back-to-back contests for the first time in franchise history when they travel to face the San Francisco 49ers on ESPN Monday Night Football (7:30 p.m. CT) on September 20. The Saints and their former NFC West foes have enjoyed a storied rivalry, with New Orleans winning the last five meetings that have occurred since divisional re-alignment in 2002.
The Saints then return home to open their NFC South slate when they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 26 for a noon contest. Atlanta leads the series between the longtime division rivals 44-37, but the Saints swept both games last year and have won seven of their last eight. The Saints will take on their second divisional opponent the next week on October 3, when the Carolina Panthers come to town. The Panthers lead the all-time series 17-13 and the two clubs split last season.
The Saints then make their first regular season trip to University of Phoenix Stadium on Oct. 10, when they play the Arizona Cardinals (3:05 p.m. CT) as they Saints face another opponent from the 2009 postseason. The Saints then remain on the road as they travel to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at noon on Oct. 17. The Saints are 21-15 all-time against the Buccaneers after the two clubs split both meetings in 2009.
New Orleans will then host two of the four AFC North foes that are on their schedule, starting with a contest against the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 24 at noon. The Saints defeated the Browns 19-14 in the head coaching debut of Sean Payton in 2006. On Halloween night, the Super Bowl XLIV champions will face the winner of Super Bowl XLIII, when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers in a contest nationally televised by NBC (7:20 p.m. CT). The following Sunday on Nov. 7, the Saints will travel to Bank of America Stadium for a rematch with Carolina, before enjoying a bye the following week.
The Saints will return from their bye and host the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 21, led by new head coach Pete Carroll, who coached RB Reggie Bush and DT Sedrick Ellisat the University of Southern California. The game, which falls on the 11th week of the NFL season, marks the beginning of the NFL’s flex scheduling format and the game, as well four other contests are subject to be moved to different time slots. The game is slated to be kicked off at 3:05 p.m. CT.
The Black-and-Gold will return to the national spotlight in their first trip to Cowboys Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLV, when they play Dallas (3:00 p.m. CT) for their first appearance on Thanksgiving. The Saints will be looking to avenge last December’s 24-17 loss to the Cowboys that snapped a 13-0 start.
New Orleans then travels to Cincinnati to play the 2009 AFC North champion Bengals in a game scheduled for noon on Dec. 5, followed by a home matchup vs. former NFC West foe St. Louis, Dec. 12. The Saints will then travel to Baltimore for a Dec. 19 game against the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium before closing the regular season against two straight NFC South opponents.
On Monday, Dec. 27, the Saints will travel to Atlanta for an ESPN-broadcast showdown with the Falcons (7:30 p.m. CT). The game will mark the second-straight year that the Saints will face the Falcons on Monday Night Football, the fifth such occurrence in the last six seasons. New Orleans will then close out their regular season on Jan. 2, hosting Tampa Bay at the Superdome (Noon CT).
Saints 2010 Preseason Schedule
2010 NFL Preseason Schedule

NFL ANNOUNCES 32 COMPENSATORY DRAFT CHOICES TO 19 CLUBS

 

 

A total of 32 compensatory choices in the 2010 NFL Draft have been awarded to 19 teams, the NFL announced today.

 

Under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

 

The number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four. The 32 compensatory choices announced today will supplement the 223 choices in the seven rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft (April 22-24). This year, the compensatory picks will be positioned within the third through seventh rounds based on the value of the compensatory free agents lost.

 

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL Management Council. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula.

 

Three clubs this year (Oakland, Miami and Tampa Bay) will each receive a compensatory pick even though they did not suffer a net loss of compensatory free agents last year. Under the formula, the compensatory free agents lost by these clubs were ranked higher than the ones they signed (by a specified point differential based upon salary and performance).

 

Thirty compensatory picks were awarded to clubs based upon the compensatory pick formula. By rule, two additional choices were awarded at the end of the seventh round to bring the total number of compensatory selections to 32, equaling the number of NFL clubs. The two additional picks were awarded to St. Louis and Detroit based upon the 2010 draft selection order.

 

The following 2010 draft picks have been determined by the NFL Management Council:

 

ROUND CHOICE/ ROUND OVERALL SELECTION TEAM

 

3 33-96 Cincinnati

 

3 34-97 Tennessee

 

3 35-98 Atlanta

 

4 33-131 Cincinnati

 

5 33-164 Pittsburgh

 

5 34-165 Atlanta

 

5 35-166 Pittsburgh

 

5 36-167 Minnesota

 

5 37-168 San Diego

 

5 38-169 Green Bay

 

6 33-202 Carolina

 

6 34-203 Jacksonville

 

6 35-204 Carolina

 

6 36-205 New England

 

6 37-206 San Francisco

 

6 38-207 Tennessee

 

7 33-240 Indianapolis

 

7 34-241 Tennessee

 

7 35-242 Pittsburgh

 

7 36-243 Philadelphia

 

7 37-244 Philadelphia

 

7 38-245 Seattle

 

7 39-246 Indianapolis

 

7 40-247 New England

 

7 41-248 New England

 

7 42-249 Carolina

 

7 43-250 New England

 

7 44-251 Oakland

 

7 45-252 Miami

 

7 46-253 Tampa Bay

 

7 47-254 St. Louis

 

7 48-255 Detroit

 

Following are the compensatory free agents lost and signed last year by the clubs that will receive compensatory picks in the 2010 NFL Draft:

 

ATLANTA Lost: Michael Boley, Keith Brooking, Domonique Foxworth, Grady Jackson

 

Signed: Mike Peterson, Brett Romberg

 

 

CAROLINA Lost: Geoff Hangartner, Mark Jones, Frank Omiyale

 

 

CINCINNATI Lost: Stacy Andrews, Ryan Fitzpatrick, T.J. Houshmandzadeh

 

Signed: J.T. O’Sullivan

 

 

GREEN BAY Lost: Colin Cole

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS Lost: Darrell Reid, Hunter Smith

 

 

JACKSONVILLE Lost: Khalif Barnes, Mike Peterson, Gerald Sensabaugh

 

Signed: Sean Considine, Tra Thomas

 

 

MIAMI Lost: Andre’ Goodman, Renaldo Hill

 

Signed: Joe Berger, Jake Grove

 

 

MINNESOTA Lost: Matt Birk, Darren Sharper

 

Signed: Karl Paymah

 

 

NEW ENGLAND Lost: Heath Evans, Jabar Gaffney, Larry Izzo, LaMont Jordan, Lonie Paxton

 

Signed: Brandon McGowan

 

 

OAKLAND Lost: Jake Grove

 

Signed: Khalif Barnes

 

 

PHILADELPHIA Lost: Correll Buckhalter, Sean Considine, Brian Dawkins, L.J. Smith,

 

Tra Thomas

 

Signed: Stacy Andrews, Sean Jones, Leonard Weaver

 

 

PITTSBURGH Lost: Byron Leftwich, Bryant McFadden, Nate Washington

 

 

SAN DIEGO Lost: Mike Goff, Igor Olshansky

 

Signed: Kevin Burnett

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO Lost: Ronald Fields, Bryant Johnson, J.T. O’Sullivan, Donald Strickland

 

Signed: Demetric Evans, Brandon Jones, Moran Norris

 

 

SEATTLE Lost: Rocky Bernard, Maurice Morris, Leonard Weaver, Floyd Womack

 

Signed: Colin Cole, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, John Owens

 

 

TAMPA BAY Lost: Phillip Buchanon, Jovan Haye

 

Signed: Byron Leftwich, Derrick Ward

 

 

TENNESSEE Lost: Chris Carr, Albert Haynesworth, Brandon Jones, Eric King, Daniel Loper, Chris Simms

 

Signed: Jovan Haye, Mark Jones, Nate Washington

 

TOTAL 2010 NFL COMPENSATORY DRAFT PICKS

 

 

New England 4

 

Carolina 3

 

Pittsburgh 3

 

Tennessee 3

 

Atlanta 2

 

Cincinnati 2

 

Indianapolis 2

 

Philadelphia 2

 

Detroit 1

 

Green Bay 1

 

Jacksonville 1

 

Miami 1

 

Minnesota 1

 

Oakland 1

 

St. Louis 1

 

San Diego 1

 

Seattle 1

 

San Francisco 1

 

Tampa Bay 1

 

TOTAL 32

 

NFL CLUB SUMMARY OF COMPENSATORY DRAFT PICKS, 1994-2010 *

 

Arizona 15

 

Atlanta 10

 

Baltimore 29

 

Buffalo 24

 

Carolina 10

 

Chicago 17

 

Cincinnati 17

 

Cleveland 1

 

Dallas 28

 

Denver 8

 

Detroit 15

 

Green Bay 25

 

Houston 3

 

Indianapolis 16

 

Jacksonville 19

 

Kansas City 12

 

Miami 14

 

Minnesota 13

 

New England 26

 

New Orleans 9

 

NY Giants 18

 

NY Jets 5

 

Oakland 12

 

Philadelphia 27

 

Pittsburgh 22

 

St. Louis ** 26

 

San Diego 15

 

San Francisco 17

 

Seattle 17

 

Tampa Bay 17

 

Tennessee *** 25

 

Washington 11

 

TOTAL 523

 

* 1994 was the first year that compensatory draft choices were awarded; ** St. Louis picks include those awarded to Los Angeles Rams: *** Tennessee picks include those awarded to Houston Oilers.