Ricky Zeller and Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Friday, February 29, 2008 – 5:27 PM
The New Orleans Saints have agreed to terms with LB Mark Simoneau and DT Brian Young, it was announced today by Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis. Terms of the contracts for the two veterans were not released.
Simoneau and Young each agreed to terms Thursday evening, hours before they entered the NFL’s open market as Unrestricted Free Agents.
“We’ve always taken a proactive approach when it comes to signing the players we want back before they enter free agency,” said Loomis. “Both Mark and Brian are excellent, hard-working players who have proven to be key contributors on our defense.”
Simoneau joined the Saints after a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles in August of 2006 and has since started 30 of 32 games at middle linebacker. He has recorded 170 tackles (102 solo), three sacks, an interception and knocked down a pair of passes with New Orleans. Entering his ninth season in 2008, last year Simoneau ranked second on the club with 97 stops, the second-highest total of his career. He’s also been a key addition on special teams.
Young was originally signed by the Saints as an Unrestricted Free Agent in 2004 after a four-year stint with the St. Louis Rams, and has been one of the club’s most consistent performers since his arrival. He has opened 55 of 56 games in New Orleans and posted 250 tackles (135 solo), 11 sacks, a pair of fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
Prior to 2007, Young had started all 47 games he had played for the Saints. Last season, he appeared in nine games, opening eight, missing a four-game stretch with an injured knee before being placed on injured reserve late in the year with pneumonia. Young enters his eighth season in 2008.
The Saints also announced today that they hosted two unrestricted free agent players today at the team’s Airline Drive headquarters in Metairie. The two veteran players were DE Bobby McCray and CB Aaron Glenn.
McCray, a 6-6, 262-pound defensive end, was one of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting defensive ends the past two seasons and ranks tied for seventh in franchise history with DT Marcus Stroud in sacks (22). A seventh-round pick out of the University of Florida by Jacksonville in 2004, he has played in 61 regular season games during his four-year career and recorded 94 tackles, 22 sacks and seven forced fumbles. The 26-year old native of Homestead, Fla. registered a career-high 10 sacks in 2006.
Glenn, a 5-9, 183-pound first-round draft choice of the New York Jets in 1994 out of Texas A&M, is a 14-year veteran cornerback who has played for the Jets (1994-2001), Houston Texans (2002-2004), Dallas Cowboys (2005-2006) and most recently with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2007). He has accumulated 633 career tackles, 41 career interceptions for 560 yards and six touchdowns via interception returns. Glenn, 35, ranks fifth among active interception leaders in the NFL, trailing only the Minnesota Vikings’ Darren Sharper (53), former Kansas City Chief Ty Law (52), Jacksonville Jaguars Sammy Knight and Denver Broncos Champ Bailey (42 each). Glenn is one of 23 players in NFL history to have returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game, a feat he accomplished in 2002.
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