Snap Judgments: Deuce is loose

Deuce McAllister, the Saints' all-time leading rusher with 6,069 yards, was due to make more than $7 million next season. Bob Rosato/SI Don Banks's Mailbag Submit a comment or question to Don Banks. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Don Banks on Twitter

The Deuce is on the loose again, but not in that rumbling-into-secondary sort of way we've come to know it over the course of Deuce McAllister's eight-year stay in New Orleans. The Saints all-time leading rusher and touchdown-maker woke up Wednesday an ex-Saint for the first time in his NFL career, after being released Tuesday in a salary cap move that wasn't as surprising as it was saddening.

I can't think of a better player-team fit in the NFL than the one McAllister and the Saints enjoyed for most of this decade, and I haven't met many NFL stars who understood his role both within the framework of the team and the community more so than McAllister, the former University of Mississippi standout who stayed "home'' on the Gulf Coast to play his pro ball.

The Saints almost had to let McAllister go to get under the $123 million salary cap, but this was one necessary move that still had to be painful for both sides. Not unlike Fred Taylor's release from Jacksonville the day before, McAllister had given more than just his on-field blood, sweat and tears to the Saints over the years, and his release likely ended the tenure of the most-beloved Saint since Archie Manning left town.

I called McAllister on Tuesday night to find out what the nascent stages of his life after the Saints was feeling like, and wasn't surprised in the least to hear not a syllable of self-pity or bitterness over the day of decision he had to know was coming.

"You can look at it a lot of different ways, but the way I'm looking at it and approaching it is to remove myself and my feelings from the situation,'' McAllister said. "I've been successful in the NFL just to play eight years at a position where a lot of careers don't last that long. I was able to last the past few years when my team drafted someone at my position [Reggie Bush in the first round of 2006, Antonio Pittman in the fourth round of '07].

"I have a lot to be thankful and feel blessed for. And I understand the business end of the game. They had to get under the cap. I've had my feelings about things over the years, about my playing time or whatever, but those will remain just that, my feelings. At the same time, it should always be about the team and that has to come first. You have to take yourself out of the situation and understand the bigger picture.''

McAllister gets it. He always has, and that's just one of the reasons why he has been among the most respected players in the game across the broad spectrum of fans, the media, fellow players and team management. He hit 30 in late December, had a cap number of $7.5 million this year, and with his history of reconstructive surgeries on both knees in recent years ('05 and '07), he knew the team coming first meant he was the odd man out in a Saints backfield where he was relegated last season to playing behind both Bush and former collegiate free agent Pierre Thomas.

I'm convinced there will be teams interested in McAllister's services at some point this offseason, but the fate of 30-and-older running backs let go into the NFL marketplace can be cruel. Just ask '05 league MVP Shaun Alexander. But again, McAllister has a perspective that should serve him well as he begins his career's second act. He knows where he now must fit into the NFL landscape.

"My best-case scenario is I want to contribute to a winning team,'' he said. "I've made Pro Bowls and the past, and I've been that bellweather, No. 1 type of back. But that's not where I'm at in my career any more. At this point, I need some help and some other backs around me. I can't handle the entire load. I can see myself in a mentoring position with another younger back, but finding that right team and that right opportunity is the challenge ahead.''

It's a challenge that starts today, because McAllister said his agent, Ben Dogra, will begin the process immediately of shopping him to other teams at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which opened Wednesday. Though the Saints have left the door open for McAllister to return to New Orleans at a greatly reduced salary, no one is saying that scenario looks likely.

Winning teams such as New England, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Arizona could be in the market for a veteran complementary back like McAllister, but look for the offseason to be well underway before Deuce lands in a new locale. For starters, he had clean-up arthroscopic surgery on his left knee just six weeks ago -- his fourth knee operation since '05 -- and any new suitors will want him healthy before signing him. The Saints, according him the status he deserves within their organization, have let McAllister know he's still welcome at their facility to continue rehabilitating his knee this offseason.

It's a gesture McAllister greatly appreciates, and figures to soften the bittersweet events of Tuesday, the day he left the only NFL team he has ever known.