Sean Payton said decision to release tight end Jeremy Shockey was difficult for him personally

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton said the team's decision to release tight end Jeremy Shockey was especially difficult for him because of their close relationship that dates back to their days together with the New York Giants.

"He's one of my favorite players before and he plays with passion. He brought a swagger to what we do," Payton said Tuesday. "The one thing that's interesting when you win a Super Bowl, it can really validate any decision you've made up until that point in regards to free agent moves, players drafted, coaches hired. That doesn't mean there aren't mistakes on the road to a Super Bowl. But that game and after the game seeing him and his mother is pretty strong.

"Any time you end up parting ways with a player like that it's difficult. His case with my history it was hard."

One of the reasons Shockey became expendable was the emergence of rookie tight end Jimmy Graham in 2010. Although Graham is still developing as a football player after playing just one season in college at Miami (Fla.), he clearly has the talent to be a game-changing offensive weapon. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound former basketball player caught 31 passes for 356 yards and five touchdowns in 2010, with four of those TDs coming in his final three games of the season.

"I felt like, most importantly, none of it was too big for him. I think he saw himself as someone who should excel in this game now. We began to see that especially the last third of the season," Payton said. "I think he has got some work to do in regards to the running game. But he has a lot of ability. We've got to look closely to what we want to do within the framework of what runs while he's in there and how do we want to utilize him while he's in there. Certainly he and (free agent tight end) David Thomas are built differently and will have different roles. But we obviously saw enough of him as the season progressed and feel real good about his development. Jeremy had a lot to do with that as a veteran player helping him. The future is bright for him."

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(nola.com)