Saints Release Mike McKenzie

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Yesterday, I wrote about the New Orleans Saints signing 12-year veteran safety Darren Sharper and revamping their defense. Today, much to my surprise, the team released one of their best defensive players — 10-year veteran cornerback Mike McKenzie. Mike played five seasons with the Saints after coming over from Green Bay in 2004. He started all but one of the 63 games he played in and had 225 tackles, 58 passes defensed, 12 interceptions and one forced fumble. He wasn’t the reason for the team’s less-than-stellar defensive efforts the past couple seasons. Saints Executive Vice President and General Manager Mickey Loomis made the following statement:

“Decisions such as these are the hardest to make in this business. Mike has been a stand-out performer for the Saints both on-and-off-the-field during his career. We wish him well in his future and thank him for all of his efforts representing the Saints.”

I’m torn on this one just as I am anytime a quality veteran player is released before his time. While I can usually understand the reasoning (especially if it’s financial but in this case it’s most likely due to ongoing injuries), I think Mike’s numbers speak for themselves enough that he could/should be an important piece of the new defensive puzzle in New Orleans. Now he won’t get that chance. But the Saints’ loss will be another team’s gain.

Source: NewOrleansSaints.com, Photo: Newscom