The Saints begin two days of joint practices with the New England Patriots at their training camp facility in West Virginia. The two teams will also play each other in preseason game on Saturday night in the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Coach Sean Payton on what they hope to accomplish by practicing against the Super Bowl champs…

cut 17 (19) “of cards”

The Saints will begin the regular season September 13th at Arizona.

With injured quarterback Geno Smith sidelined, it’s reported that the New York Jets are set to sign former LSU quarterback Matt Flynn to the roster. Flynn, who was released by the Patriots, will be a backup for new starter Ryan Fitzpatrick. Smith will miss at least the first four regular season games after suffering a broken jaw.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is looking to become the NFL’s highest paid player. Manning’s current deal, signed before the 2009 season, will pay him $17 million in base salary this season. That ranks him 17th among the highest paid quarterbacks in the league. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL with an average annual base pay of $22 million. Manning’s contract expires after this season and he’s currently in contract extension talks with the team.

The Ragin Cajuns 2015-16 men’s basketball schedule is out and it features several difficult non-conference games. UL Lafayette will travel to UCLA, Miami of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, and Pepperdine. The schedule also features a nice stretch of Sun Belt conference home games in late January as the Cajuns will host South Alabama, Troy, Texas State, UT Arlington, and ULM from January 21st until February second.

And the Pelicans preseason schedule is released. New Orleans will play just one game at the Smoothie King Center and that’s October 23rd against Miami.