"Right now, there is nothing, but we're very much aware of his situation, " Payton said Wednesday. "We clearly know the player. He is a going to be a guy that is going to sign with a team in the next month. I just don't know where. Is it potentially the New Orleans Saints? I'll say this: He's a guy who has perked the interest of a lot of people, not just ourselves."

Brooks is on the downside of his career at age 36. But he might consider signing with a team inside the NFC South for the opportunity of playing twice against the Buccaneers, whose first-year coach, Raheem Morris, decided the time had come to cut ties with the franchise's most prolific tackler. Brooks, 6 feet, 235 pounds, ended his career at Tampa Bay with 208 consecutive starts, the longest active streak in the NFL.

Read More:  Nola.com

Linebacker Dan Morgan has retired from the New Orleans Saints for the second time in a year.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus announced the move on his Twitter account and said Morgan's decision is final this time.

"Dan Morgan has informed the Saints that he has decided to retire due [to] continued injuries," Rosenhaus said. "Dan would like to thank the Saints for the chance to come back this year, but injuries would not let him continue his career. His decision [is] final and he will be moving on to focus on his restaurant business in Charlotte. Dan also wants to be able to spend more time with his wife and children."

Morgan retired last spring, only a few months after signing with the Saints. He sat out all of last season but decided in January that he wanted to return and was healthier than at any time since his rookie year in 2001. He had been working out with the Saints throughout the offseason and was viewed as a possible starter at weakside linebacker.

Read More:  ESPN.com

They lined up in several formations over the course of their three-day minicamp, including a healthy amount of 3-4 alignments. In one of their dime defensive packages Sunday, the Saints went with three linemen, two linebackers and six defensive backs.

Defensive end Will Smith said New Orleans installed many of the same packages under previous defensive coordinators Gary Gibbs and Rick Venturi, including some "30" fronts with only three defensive linemen.

But he said that Williams "probably has more packages than most coaches."

"Every defense has a lot of the same things. It's just about when you use them and how you use them -- and that's his thing, " Smith said of Williams' versatility. "You just have to be aggressive, make the offense react to what you're doing instead of you reacting to them."

Read More:  Nola.com

New Orleans Saints defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant and former Saints tailback Deuce McAllister will have to serve their four-game suspensions at the start of the 2009 season after a federal judge threw out their lawsuit against the NFL late Friday in Minnesota.

According to The Associated Press, Judge Paul Magnuson dismissed the suit, which was filed by the NFL Players Association on behalf of the three Saints players and Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams last December. He remanded two separate claims brought on by the Williamses to state court in Minnesota.

All five players were suspended after testing positive for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, last summer. But the suspensions were put on hold pending the outcome of the legal process.

A trial date had been set for June 15, but Magnuson made a summary judgment after reviewing all of the pretrial motions and hearing arguments from both sides last week.

The Saints have been preparing for the possibility of losing Smith and Grant to start the season. They added veteran defensive end Paul Spicer early in free agency and recently added defensive end Anthony Hargrove to a mix that already includes Bobby McCray, Jeff Charleston and Rob Ninkovich.

Read More:  Nola.com