Saints Sign Porter, Release Johnson

The Saints have come to terms with their second round pick, Tracy Porter, and have parted ways with TE Eric Johnson.

This is great news for the Saints secondary as Porter has a legitimate shot of contributing to the Saints weak secondary this year. If he had missed too many practices and gotten too far behind, it would have hurt his chances to play early.

The Saints now have all of their draft picks except Sedrick Ellis in camp. Hopefully Ellis' deal can be worked out soon with the 6th pick, Vernon Gholston signing with the Jets earlier today.

The release of Johnson is a bit of a surprise this early in camp. He was battling through injuries and with the trade for Jeremy Shockey, his roster spot was already in jeopardy. I guess the Saints wanted to help him out and let him go early enough for him to latch on with someone else. The only downfall to this is if there are any injuries to tight ends in camp in the next week or so.

I had high hopes for the Eric Johnson/Saints marriage from the start, but it never panned out for him in the Big Easy. He is a good pass catching tight end, but injuries and untimely drops hurt his chances with the Saints. With the emergence of Billy Miller as a quality tight end, a returning Mark Campbell and the Shockey trade, Johnson's days were numbered.

In other news early from camp, Shockey is fitting in nicely with his new team. Reports are that Drew Brees has been working with him after practice to get him up to speed on the offense. Look for this relationship to flourish throughout the preseason, as Brees has taken the tight end under his wing so far.