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We mentioned that the Saints will be inserting more zone coverage into their defense when we told you about linebacker Martez Wilson making the move to defensive end.

If Wilson stays at end, he might have to drop into coverage from time to time. But the secondary is going to be impacted much more by any change in coverage schemes.

“It is a little bit of a transition for cornerbacks Patrick (Robinson) and Jabari (Greer) but they really have done a good job so far fitting into that mode,’’ interim coach Joe Vitt said. “There is a little bit more adjustment wise with motion and formation, but that is why we have OTAs.’’

Vitt said there’s been a league-wide trend of offenses getting more big plays, and said those plays are less prevalent against zone defenses.

“Offensively, last year, we had 124 big plays of runs of 10 yards or more or pass plays of 20 yards or more,’’ Vitt said. “Defensively, we gave up more last year than we ever have at 99. The big plays on offense, we would like to keep that number exactly where it is. We have to get that number on defense down to about 75. Just a little bit more zone defense and not selling the farm is going to give you an opportunity to keep those big (plays) off your back.”

Safeties Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper also will face adjustments. But Vitt said new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is doing a good job of getting his system installed.

“Spags is a hands-on coach,’’ Vitt said. “He loves to teach. He loves to have the whole defense in there so everybody is on the same page. I would categorize him as a player’s coach. He puts a lot of the decision-making on the player in the course of practice and the course of a game. He doesn’t dwell on mistakes. I think he is going to produce a very positive atmosphere around here for us.”

Lots of readers in our NFC South chat were asking about the possibility of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being interested in cornerback Drayton Florence, who was released by the Buffalo Bills on Friday.

General manager Mark Dominik isn’t going to tip his hand on interest in any free agent, but I think it’s at least worth keeping an eye to see if the Bucs do show interest. Bringing in 31-year-old cornerbacks doesn’t exactly fit with what the Bucs are doing these days, so I'd call this a long shot. But I wouldn’t completely rule it out.

Drayton’s a smart and experienced player and his production didn’t slide in Buffalo. He was released simply because the Bills wanted to get younger at the position and they just drafted Stephon Gilmore.

The reason I think there’s at least a chance the Bucs show interest in Florence is because they have some uncertainty at cornerback. Aqib Talib is awaiting trial on an assault charge in Texas and he could face prison time or an NFL suspension. The Bucs also have talked about moving veteran cornerback Ronde Barber to safety. The possibility of that move seemed to diminish when the Bucs drafted safety Mark Barron in the first round, but it still is possible the Bucs could use Barber at safety.

Aside from Talib and Barber, the Bucs have Eric Wright, whom they signed as a free agent. After that, they have guys such as E.J. Biggers, Myron Lewis and Anthony Gaitor, who haven’t shown real strong signs they’re ready to start. The Bucs did draft West Virginia cornerback Keith Tandy, but it likely will take some time for him to develop.

If the Bucs decide they need a quick fix -- and, again, that’s not really what they’re all about -- then Florence could be a possibility, if he comes at the right price.

But the Bucs aren’t the only NFC South team that possibly could have interest in Florence. You can scratch the Falcons off the list because they just traded for Asante Samuel. But Carolina and New Orleans could be possibilities. Aside from Chris Gamble, the Panthers aren’t loaded with talent at cornerback.

The Saints, who have shown more willingness to bring in older players than any other NFC South team, are set with Jabari Greer and Patrick Robinson as their starters. Johnny Patrick appears likely to step into the nickelback role, but the Saints have brought in older players in front of younger players before. New Orleans doesn’t have a great salary-cap situation, but Florence shouldn’t command a huge salary.

In this earlier post, I gave you my take on what the suspensions of linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith mean for the New Orleans Saints on the field.

Let’s follow that up with some numbers from ESPN Stats & Information.

• As I said in the previous post, Vilma tried to play through a knee injury last season before having surgery and missing five games. Before and after the surgery, Vilma didn’t look like the same dominant player he was in previous seasons. That’s supported by the fact that the Saints got better defensively when Vilma was out. In the games Vilma played, the Saints allowed 6.0 yards per play and 5.0 yards on rushing plays. When the Saints were without Vilma, they allowed 5.6 yards per play and 4.8 yards per rush. On pass plays, the Saints allowed 6.9 yards when Vilma played and 6.3 when he didn’t.
• Vilma wasn’t healthy all of last season, and Smith missed the first two games while serving a two-game suspension for using a banned diuretic. But in the games Vilma and Smith did participate in, they played a lot. Smith was in on 87.3 percent of the defensive snaps in the games in which he played -- that’s a very high number for a defensive end because most teams rotate three or four defensive ends. In the games Vilma played, he was on the field for 91 percent of the defensive snaps. The only Saints who had higher percentages in the games in which they played were safety Malcolm Jenkins (96.6), safety Roman Harper (93.9) and cornerback Jabari Greer (92.6).
• Smith had a team-high 10 sacks the past two seasons when the Saints sent at least five pass-rushers. That total was the fourth-best in the league over the past two seasons when using additional pass-rushers.
• Smith led all New Orleans linemen with seven passes defensed/intercepted in the regular season since 2010. He also had nine tackles for loss in that same time period.

This is the time of year when you hear a lot about offseason workouts. This is when teams can begin conditioning drills and get out onto the field to start working on football and that continues through minicamps and organized team activities.

It’s a great time to build chemistry. You’ll also hear a lot of coaches bragging about how almost all their players are participating in the workouts, which is great. But, in some cases, there’s a lot of money to be earned just for showing up and working out in the offseason.

I just got a look at all the offseason workout bonuses scheduled to be earned (if the players take part in a majority of the workouts) by NFC South players this year and there were some eye openers. Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik doesn’t use a lot of workout bonuses in the contracts he negotiates. But, when he does use them, they’re significant. Tight end Kellen Winslow and cornerback Eric Wright have the largest workout bonuses in the division for 2012 at $500,000 each. Offensive tackle Donald Penn is right behind them at $400,000 and defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is scheduled to collect $300,000. Linebacker Quincy Black has a $250,000 bonus and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye is slated to make $200,000. Those six are the only Buccaneers with workout bonuses this year, but they come to a total of $2.15 million.

Carolina general manager Marty Hurney and New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis are much more liberal in their use of workout bonuses. The Saints and Panthers each have 21 players scheduled to earn workout bonuses this year.

Carolina’s scheduled workout bonuses add up to $2.055 million. I won’t list anyone under six figures. But here are the guys who can earn big money. Charles Johnson, Jon Beason, DeAngelo Williams, Ryan Kalil and Ron Edwards each are scheduled to make $250,000. Charles Godfrey, James Anderson, Olindo Mare and Garry Williams each can earn $100,000.

If all the New Orleans players take part in enough workouts, the Saints will have to pay out $2.381 million. Sedrick Ellis leads the Saints with a $250,000 workout bonus. Jahri Evans, Lance Moore and Scott Shanle each are scheduled to make $200,000 and Will Smith is slated to make $150,000. Marques Colston, Roman Harper, Jabari Greer, Jermon Bushrod, Jonathan Vilma, Malcolm Jenkins, Devery Henderson, Pierre Thomas, David Thomas, Korey Hall and Will Herring each are scheduled to make $100,000.

Apparently, Atlanta’s Thomas Dimitroff, who probably works out more (he rides a bike religiously) than any NFC South general manager, doesn’t believe in workout bonuses. Dimitroff has used them very sparingly in the past. This year, there’s not a single Atlanta player schedule to earn a workout bonus.

Now, that the NFL draft is over, let’s have some fun. Let’s start looking ahead to next season with team-by-team looks at what I project as the opening day lineups for each of the four NFC South teams.

Let’s start with the New Orleans Saints, who might not have any rookies open the season as starters because they didn’t have a draft pick until the third round. Also, let’s keep in mind that the Saints could be dealing with some suspensions from their bounty program. We won’t speculate on possible suspensions. We’ll just go with the depth chart as I see it now and I’ll throw in comments where there could be competition.

OFFENSE

• QB Drew Brees (assuming his contract situation gets straightened out)
• RB Pierre Thomas (you can also count Darren Sproles as a starter)
• FB Jed Collins
• WR Marques Colston
• WR Devery Henderson (Lance Moore will play as much as the starters)
• TE Jimmy Graham
• LT Jermon Bushrod
• LG Ben Grubbs
• C Brian de la Puente
• RG Jahri Evans
• RT Zach Strief

DEFENSE

• DE Will Smith
• DT Sedrick Ellis
• DT Brodrick Bunkley
• DE Cameron Jordan
• LB Curtis Lofton
• LB Jonathan Vilma (it remains to be seen if Vilma or Lofton will play in the middle)
• LB Scott Shanle
• CB Jabari Greer
• CB Patrick Robinson
• FS Malcolm Jenkins
• SS Roman Harper

SPECIALISTS

• K Garrett Hartley (assuming he wins training camp competition with John Kasay)
• P Thomas Morstead
• PR Darren Sproles
• KR Darren Sproles

I just got a look at the updated salary-cap space for all four NFL teams.

It was current as of Monday night. It’s still current for Atlanta, even though cornerback Brent Grimes just signed his tender as the franchise player. Grimes’ tender already was counting against Atlanta’s cap.

With $1.7 million available, the Falcons have the least cap room of any NFC South team.

The New Orleans Saints are next at $4.7 million and that includes Jonathan Vilma's restructured contract and Jabari Greer's three-year contract extension.

Carolina is next at $5.8 million and that figure factors in the recent extension signed by receiver Steve Smith.

Tampa Bay is $16.9 million under the cap. Only five teams currently have more cap room than the Buccaneers.

It’s rare that a contract restructure means a pay cut. Usually, it’s simply a matter of shifting base salary into signing-bonus money to help a team’s salary cap. Players generally end up making the same amount they were supposed to in a given year, but getting the money as a signing bonus gives them more time to collect interest.

But the case of New Orleans middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma is anything but ordinary. Vilma, who is facing a possible suspension for his role in the Saints’ bounty program, took a pay cut when he restructured his contract recently.

Vilma’s new deal includes a $1 million signing bonus, but his base salary dropped from $5.4 million to $3.3 million for 2012. The Saints also added a $600,000 roster bonus, which might not come into play, if Vilma is suspended. The deal also kept a $100,000 workout bonus. In short, the cash value of Vilma’s deal for this year, dropped from $5.5 million to $3.3 million. For the Saints, the important thing is that Vilma’s cap figure for this year dropped from $7.6 million to $4.9 million.

Vilma didn't have to take a cut for 2013, but some things were adjusted. His cap figure dropped from $8.6 million to $8.1 million. Vilma’s 2013 base salary was lowered from $5.9 million to $4.8 million, but he can recoup that money because the new deal includes a $1.1 million roster bonus.

The Saints also restructured the deal of cornerback Jabari Greer, but that was a different story. The Saints gave Greer a three-year contract extension that helped them lower his cap figure this year. Greer’s new cap figure is $5.4 million. It had been scheduled to be $6.25 million. Greer’s base salary for this season dropped from $5.4 million to $2.4 million, but he collected a $5.3 million signing bonus. Greer also is scheduled to earn a $100,000 workout bonus and can earn an extra $1 million this year in incentives and escalators.

Greer’s extension includes $11.3 million in guaranteed money. The total value of the deal is $21.1 million, but that could rise to just over $22.5 million if he hits on all incentives and escalators.

The New Orleans Saints reportedly have reached an agreement on a three-year contract extension with cornerback Jabari Greer.

There are several reasons for this and let’s start with the obvious. First off, Greer is New Orleans’ top cornerback and probably the best cornerback in the NFC South. He’s in his prime, so it makes plenty of sense to keep him around.

Now, let’s go beyond the obvious. Greer was scheduled to count $6.3 million toward this year’s cap. We don’t know the structure of his new deal yet (although reports say its value is about $23 million), but you can be sure his cap figure for this season has been lowered by several million dollars. It’s really easy to give a player a nice signing bonus. They’d rather have the money up front than wait for it to come as base salary in weekly game checks. The signing bonus gets spread out over the life of the contract as it pertains to salary-cap implications. So this is a win-win situation for Greer and the Saints.

The upfront money and the added years are nice for Greer. For the Saints, who were very tight against the salary cap, the move gives them a little room to work with. They’ll need every bit of it because Drew Brees’ franchise tender moved from $14 million to $16 million on Friday as part of a league rule. If Brees signs a long-term contract, his cap figure could go even higher than $16 million.

Let's take a look at some of the top headlines from around the division.

The Falcons are without a first-round draft pick. That means you can expect plenty of criticism of last year’s trade to move up and get receiver Julio Jones between now and the draft. It’s understandable, as the Falcons are sitting there with needs on the offensive and defensive lines, and needs for depth in other areas. But I can’t say the trade to get Jones was a mistake. He showed plenty of promise in his rookie season, and could end up being one of the league’s top receivers. No doubt the cost was high, but it’s too early in Jones’ career to say the Falcons gave up too much to get him.

Carolina quarterback Cam Newton has said he expects major improvement over a debut season in which he won Offensive Rookie of the Year. Head over to SportsNation to vote on how much you think Newton will improve.

Jordan Gross’ high school in Idaho will get some new weight-room equipment, courtesy of the Carolina offensive tackle.

Here’s a list of five first-round draft prospects for the Panthers. I’d add Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and Boston college linebacker Luke Kuechly to that list. I’d also scratch Stanford guard David DeCastro from that list. He’s a great prospect, but I can’t see the Panthers using a top-10 pick on a guard.

There’s been wide-spread speculation that middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma will face a suspension when the NFL hands out player punishments for the Saints’ bounty program. Although the league has said anywhere from 22 to 27 players were involved in a three-season span, there hasn’t been much speculation about which other players could face suspensions. Until now. Safety Roman Harper and defensive end Will Smith are mentioned as possible candidates in this report.

Jeff Schultz takes New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees to task for not acknowledging the existence of a bounty program.

After going through the first day of the offseason program, New Orleans cornerback Jabari Greer talked about the strength of the Saints’ locker room, and how that should help the team with the adversity it faces in the aftermath of the bounty program. He's got a point. Although it was clear there was some friction between coach Sean Payton and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the chemistry among the New Orleans players has always been a big positive in recent years.

The Saints have re-signed special-teams player/receiver Courtney Roby. They also released linebacker Jeremiha Hunter.

Gary Shelton runs through the argument that is consuming Tampa Bay fans -- should the Bucs take LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne or Alabama running back Trent Richardson with the No. 5 overall pick? It’s a tough call, and I don’t think the Bucs would be making a huge mistake by going either way. I lean slightly toward Claiborne, because the trending wisdom in the NFL is that you don’t draft a running back early in the first round. Then again, the way coach Greg Schiano has been talking, his offensive system might make running back a more important position than it is for most other teams.

Let’s take a look at the top headlines from around the NFC South.

We hadn’t heard much from New Orleans running back Pierre Thomas since he took a frightening hit to the head in the playoff loss to San Francisco. But Thomas talked Thursday night and said he has recovered from the injury. Thomas said he was knocked out as soon as he was hit, but that he remembers everything right before the impact and was aware and alert in the locker room after leaving the game.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson, who many are linking to the Bucs with the No. 5 overall pick, had his pro day Thursday. Richardson was time between 4.45 and 4.49 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Speaking of Richardson and the draft, we’ll have our blog network mock draft Monday. I can’t reveal my pick for the Bucs until then, but I will at least tell you Richardson was one of only two guys on my short list for Tampa Bay.

Richardson also said he will have a private workout for the Bucs.

The Saints are scheduled to host free-agent cornerback Kelvin Hayden this weekend. He spent last season with the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints lost Tracy Porter in free agency, but aren’t in bad shape with veteran Jabari Greer and young players Patrick Robinson and Johnny Patrick. But it wouldn’t hurt to add a solid and experienced player like Hayden, who isn’t likely to command a high salary.

Tom Sorensen writes that Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon would be a good fit for the Panthers, if he’s available with the No. 9 overall pick in the draft. A lot of people are assuming the Panthers will take a defensive lineman with that pick. That’s possible. But I don’t think anything’s definite. If Blackmon’s available, the Panthers would give him strong consideration. He’d be a nice complement opposite Steve Smith. Plus, I also think there’s another position the Panthers are looking at that could surprise people. That’s linebacker and I think Boston College’s Luke Kuechly is a guy that’s getting a long look.

New Orleans cornerback Jabari Greer had some pretty strong words about the punishment handed to the New Orleans Saints by the NFL.

“It seems as if they are trying to destroy our season,’’ Greer said in an interview with Sirius NFL Radio. “They are trying to take away our leaders, take away our leadership. But it's not going to happen. We are New Orleans. We will be strong, we will get through this, we will fight through this and we will win. It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. No matter the adversity, we're going to stand up, we're going to stand strong, we're going to look you in your face and we're going to continue to play with passion, play with heart, because that's how we play. Not with malicious intent, not trying to hurt somebody. It doesn't matter about a bounty system. We go out there and play hard, we play fast, because we're men of integrity and we love to play the game.

“We play a violent game. So that is, my spirit and my soul is moving me to words to say that people are painting us as mercenaries for hire. They are painting us as thugs. We're fathers, we're professionals and we are men."

You can hear the interview here.

Peyton Manning could have some company from the NFC South in Denver.

Cornerback Tracy Porter reportedly will visit with the Broncos on Wednesday, according to AFC West colleague Bill Williamson.

The Denver trip will come after Porter completes a visit with the Tennessee Titans. Porter reportedly already visited the Cincinnati Bengals, and there have been reports saying the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams have shown interest.

Porter, 25, has spent most of the past four seasons as a starter for the New Orleans Saints. But the Saints, who are dealing with a tight salary-cap situation, don’t appear to have a big interest in re-signing Porter.

They’re set with Jabari Greer as one starter, and the Saints have used draft picks on Patrick Robinson and Johnny Patrick the past two years.

We’ve got a few developments involving the New Orleans Saints.

They reportedly now are showing some interest in Atlanta linebacker Curtis Lofton. The Saints already have expressed interest in Seattle’s David Hawthorne and Denver’s Joe Mays. This is a pretty strong indication the Saints are looking to shake up their linebacker situation. Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma is coming off knee surgery and has a high cap figure. Lofton is younger than Vilma and the Saints are very familiar with him after playing against him the past four seasons.

But I don’t think the Saints are the only NFC South team keeping an eye on Lofton. The Falcons made an offer to him before free agency started and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at least monitoring Lofton’s situation. There also have been reports the Philadelphia Eagles may have interest in Lofton.

In the case of both the Falcons and the Bucs, I think the teams would be more interested in Lofton if his initial asking price drops.

In other news, New Orleans cornerback Tracy Porter is expected to make a free-agent visit to the Cincinnati Bengals, according to two league sources.

Porter also reportedly has drawn interest from the St. Louis Rams.

Porter, 25, has been a starter for the Saints most of the past four seasons and it’s likely the team has some interest in retaining him. But the Saints’ tight salary-cap situation may prohibit that.

If Porter leaves, they have starter Jabari Greer and the team believes Patrick Robinson is ready to be a full-time starter. The team also has high hopes for second-year pro Johnny Patrick.

The man who made the New Orleans Saints could end up breaking them.

Drew Brees arrived in 2006 as the Saints and the city of New Orleans were still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He brought instant credibility, an explosive brand of offense and sustained success for a franchise that had been hapless through most of its existence. He also played a vital role in rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf South region.

Now, the price tag on all that is coming due. Brees is scheduled to become a free agent on March 13. He and the Saints are negotiating, but reports indicate the two sides remain far apart. That in itself is a little unbelievable because the parameters of this deal are obvious. Brees deserves to be the highest-paid player in NFL history.

He’s coming off a year in which he set the NFL record for passing yards in a season (5,476), and he should get at least as much as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who average $18 million per year.

I have no doubt that, when all is said and done, Brees will remain with the Saints. If negotiations on a long-term deal continue to fail, the Saints will simply put the franchise tag on their franchise quarterback.

But, either way, this is when we could begin to see the beginning of the end of the Saints as we know them.

They’re not going to be the same team they were last season when they went 13-3. They might not even be the same team they were in 2010 when they went 11-5. And they certainly aren’t going to be the same team they were in the magical 2009 season when they won the Super Bowl.

They’ll have the same quarterback, and that’s a great start. But the economics of his contract mean the Saints aren’t going to have the same quality of players at a lot of other positions. That’s not Brees’ fault, or the team’s fault. It’s simply reality in the modern NFL.

By the time next season rolls around and everything has shaken out, the Saints could be taking several steps back. They’ll still have a high-powered offense because they’ll have Brees, Darren Sproles and Jimmy Graham, but that offense might not be quite the machine it’s been the past few seasons. That’s because some parts are going to be gone and they can’t truly be replaced.

On defense, which wasn’t an area of strength to begin with, the Saints have a new coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, who needs new pieces to execute his scheme. He’s not going to be able to get all he needs -- at least not this offseason.

So you’re looking at an offense that probably will be a notch or two below what it’s been in recent seasons. And you’re looking at a defense that’s probably going to be far from dominant.

Gee, that sounds pretty much like the Saints were in 2007 and ’08. They scored a lot of points, but the offense wasn’t quite perfect. The defense was far below perfect. That added up to mediocre seasons that didn’t end in trips to the playoffs.

That could be what the Saints face in 2012.

We haven’t even seen the full fallout yet, but we can start looking ahead and, no matter how you slice it, it’s tough to paint a pretty picture.

Brees isn’t the only big-name free agent the Saints have, but he’s the only one they’re absolutely sure to keep. The same can’t be said for guard Carl Nicks and wide receiver Marques Colston. It definitely can’t be said for receiver Robert Meachem and cornerback Tracy Porter, who aren’t on the Nicks/Colston level have been valuable contributors.

At absolute best, the Saints will be able to sign Brees and then place the franchise tag on either Nicks or Colston. At worst, they use the franchise tag on Brees, while Colston and Nicks both walk.

You don’t replace Nicks. He’s the best guard in the NFL and he may be just hitting his prime. Although the Saints have another very good guard in Jahri Evans, they no longer would have the unquestioned best guard tandem in the NFL.

Without Nicks, Brees would lose his best protector. Any quarterback, even Brees, isn’t quite as good when he’s getting pressured (think back to last season’s stunning loss to St. Louis).

Colston probably isn't on his way to the Hall of Fame, but he’s been Brees’ favorite target since they joined forces in 2006. Colston has had 1,000-yard receiving seasons in five of his six years. He’s a big target who isn't afraid to go over the middle. Take him away and take Meachem away, and the Saints would still have Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Adrian Arrington. Moore and Henderson are nice, experienced receivers, but they don’t do the things Colston does.

And when you’ve got no cap room to sign free agents and no first-round draft pick, where are you going to get a receiver who does anything close to what Colston does? And where are you going to get a guard who is anywhere near as good as Nicks?

So let’s subtract a few points a game from the Saints’ offense going forward. And we’re only just beginning to talk about a defense that could end up giving up more points than it has in recent seasons.

This defense isn’t loaded with talent and we soon could see subtraction by subtraction. This salary-cap jam almost certainly will force the Saints to let Porter walk. That’s not that big a deal. The Saints have a top-flight corner in Jabari Greer, and it’s pretty apparent they’ve been preparing for Porter’s eventual departure by drafting Patrick Robinson and Johnny Patrick in recent years.

But the cost of keeping Brees, and maybe Nicks or Colston, means it’s almost certain the Saints are going to have to trim some cap room by releasing some prominent defensive players or at least restructuring their contracts.

Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith are likely the top two targets for that. Although both are aging and Vilma is coming off a knee injury, those two have been New Orleans’ defensive leaders throughout coach Sean Payton’s tenure. Take Vilma away from a group of linebackers that’s ordinary, and you’ve got a group of linebackers that’s less than ordinary. And you're without the next guy in the leadership chain after Brees.

Again, the Saints don’t have the currency (cap room or prime draft picks) to make major upgrades here. Take Smith away from a pass rush that hasn’t even been ordinary, and you’ve got the potential for huge problems.

Unlike predecessor Gregg Williams, whose defensive philosophy was to be opportunistic and create turnovers, Spagnuolo believes in playing more of a shutdown defense, and he likes to generate almost all of his pressure from the front four. With Smith, the Saints have one guy up front who can rush the passer. Without him, they won’t have any.

Good luck trying to find a guy in the middle rounds of the draft or a low-priced free agent who will step right in and give you double-digit sacks. Spagnuolo is a good coach and his hiring set off celebrations in New Orleans. But a coach is only as good as the players around him, and Spagnuolo is probably not going to have a great deal of defensive talent in his first year.

That could be the story of the Saints in 2012.

Keeping their quarterback would at least keep them competitive, but they won't take steps forward if their roster is wiped out and the cap situation keeps them from being rebuilt.

As we wait for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to hire assistant coaches, get blocked from interviewing potential assistants or anything else of note to happen during a very quiet time in the NFC South, let’s look at some more playing-time figures from the 2011 season.

We showed you the numbers on linebackers earlier Tuesday and I’ve been trying to roll out one position group a day since last week. But we’re going to go ahead and go with two in a day. We’re going to show you the playing time for the NFC South cornerbacks.

Lots of people like to criticize Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson. That’s understandable to some degree because Robinson signed a huge free-agent contract prior to the 2010 season, but has produced only three interceptions since joining the Falcons.

But I haven’t seen Robinson giving up a lot of big plays. In fact, I think he’s done a nice job overall in coverage. Apparently, Atlanta’s coaching staff agrees.

Robinson was on the field for 967 of Atlanta’s 996 defensive plays (97.1 percent). That percentage ranked Robinson tops in the NFC South and No. 11 in the NFL. Tennessee’s Cortland Finnegan was the NFL’s only cornerback to play 100 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.

New Orleans’ Jabari Greer, who I think is easily the division’s best cornerback, was next on the list. Greer was on the field for 93.3 percent of New Orleans’ defensive plays and ranked No. 19 in the NFL.

The other NFC South cornerback of note high on the list was Tampa Bay’s Ronde Barber. His durability never has been a question. Even at age 36, Barber took part in 92.3 percent of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps to rank No. 21 in the league.

Carolina’s Chris Gamble (89.3 percent) was the only other NFC South cornerback to play more than 80 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.

Here’s a look at how much playing time some other NFC South cornerbacks had in 2011:

• Captain Munnerlyn, Panthers, 79.8
• Brent Grimes, Falcons, 69.5
• Patrick Robinson, Saints, 69.4
• Aqib Talib, Buccaneers, 65.1
• Tracy Porter, Saints, 64.6
• E.J. Biggers, Buccaneers, 62.9
• Darius Butler, Panthers, 40.1
• Dominique Franks, Falcons, 33.7
• Christopher Owens, Falcons, 30.3
• Elbert Mack, Buccaneers, 27.2