FanHouse Adrian Arrington

NEW YORK -- Entering the draft, the talk revolving around the Saints and their No. 14 pick was that it was either going to be Malcolm Jenkins, Beanie Wells, or Knowshon Moreno. I always felt confident that Jenkins was the Saints' guy, but they apparently did have a very real interest in Wells, as they attempted to move back into the first round after picking Jenkins to acquire the former Ohio St. running back.

Wells plummeted much farther than anyone expected, eventually being selected by the Cardinals at No. 31. But the Saints were working the phones with New England (the teams are frequent draft-day trade partners), ostensibly for the Patriots' 23rd overall pick which was eventually shipped to Baltimore, with Wells in mind. Jay Glazer originally reported the talks, but coach Sean Payton has confirmed them.

Now that Rich Rodriguez is taking over in Ann Arbor, he's bringing with him a lot of his old coaches, and his offensive system. The changes have already taken their toll on MIchigan's offense, because aside from losing quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart to graduation, the school is also losing receivers Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham who have decided to leave for the NFL.

Then there's Henne's backup, freshman Ryan Mallett. Ryan can't leave for the NFL yet, so he's doing the next best thing, he's transferring. Though it's not because he has anything against Rich Rodriguez, he just knows that he's the exact opposite of what Rodriguez looks for in a quarterback.

"I felt like I was forced out because of the offense that's coming in," Mallett said by phone as he left Ann Arbor and the Michigan program Wednesday. He was on his way home to Arkansas.

"I was recruited to be a drop-back passer. I have nothing against Coach Rod, but the system is forcing me out."

As for where Mallett is going to end up, I don't know yet, but the frontrunners for his services are UCLA, Texas A&M, and Tennessee. Not coincidentally, those are also three schools that are looking at Mallett's old quarterbacks coach at Michigan, Scot Loeffler. I'd be willing to bet that wherever Loeffler lands, Ryan's soon to follow.

Once he does announce where he's going though, he's going to have to sit out a year before he can play again.

Should he have to, though?

Right: Adrian Arrington.

In comes Rich Rodriguez, and out go Chad Henne and Mike Hart. Change is a-comin' for Michigan's offense, right? Well, that isn't the half of it. The extraordinarily blunt and open Rodriguez -- at least compared to Lloyd Carr, who never saw a question he couldn't dodge -- made an appearance on Jim Rome yesterday. Therein he expressed his opinion that Mario Manningham, Adrian Arrington, and Ryan Mallett would all ply their trade elsewhere next year, the former two in the NFL and the latter on someone's bench taking an enforced redshirt after transferring.

This was opinion, but when Rodriguez attended the Michigan-Indiana basketball game (Michigan won ten billion to zero*) he spoke to reporters at half time. This is as blunt as you can get about Mallett:

"He's not playing for Michigan," Rodriguez said . "I'm concerned with whose [sic] playing for Michigan. That's my concern."

Seeya. Also seeya: Adrian Arrington, who texted Rodriguez about his decision to leave today. Mario Manningham was absent during the team meeting, but his grandfather keeps saying he'll stick around... we'll see. He's probably gone, too.

Next year is shaping up as an ugly one in Ann Arbor.

*(not actually true.)