Young and Thomas had been starters for the Saints, but Young was plagued by knees injuries the last two seasons and Thomas battled weight problems in his three years with the team in addition to a triceps injury last summer.

Young, a nine-year veteran, played in 64 regular-season games with 58 starts for the Saints. He had 266 tackles, 12 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Thomas, a 13-year veteran who joined the Saints in a 2006 trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, played in 36 games with 28 starts. He had 117 tackles with 6.5 sacks and one fumble recovery.

--Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey fired longtime agent Drew Rosenhaus last month, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported last week.

In an e-mail to the Times-Picayune, however, Rosenhaus indicated it was a temporary split and predicted that Shockey would be "rehiring us in the immediate future."

The significance of the move is unclear and Shockey would not talk about the move other than to say it was a private matter. He is under contract to the Saints through the 2011 season according to the deal the team inherited from the New York Giants in a trade last July.

There were unconfirmed reports that Shockey has been trying to get a new contract, but the paper said indications are Shockey is content and is eager to bounce back from an injury-plagued first season with the Saints.

Saints coach Sean Payton said last week that Shockey, who will receive $3.525 million in salary and bonuses this year, $4.325 million in 2010 and $5 million in 2011, is participating fully in the team's off-season program that began in late March.

--The Saints didn't announce their list of undrafted free agents, but

the Times-Picayune reported that league sources and published reports had them signing at least 11 players.

Among them were a pair of power running tailbacks -- Western Illinois' Herb Donaldson and Wisconsin's P.J. Hill. Donaldson ranked second on his school's all-time rushing lists behind Aaron Stecker, who is an unrestricted free agent after playing the last five seasons with the Saints.

Other on the list include quarterback Patrick Cowan (UCLA), wide receivers Kenneth Harris (Georgia) and Chris Vaughn (Louisville), tackle Augustus Parrish (Kent State), guard Cedric Dockery (Texas), center Alex Fletcher (Stanford), linebacker Jonathan Casillas (Wisconsin), and cornerbacks Danny Gorrer (Texas A&M) and Reggie Jones (Portland State).

--Former Saints linebacker Pat Swilling was named as one of 16 players to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, it was announced on Thursday by the National Football Foundation.

Swilling, who starred at Georgia Tech before joining the Saints as a third-round draft pick in 1986, and the other 15 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision schools were chosen from among 76 candidates.

The group will be formally honored during a banquet in New York in December.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I feel better about the defense. I feel like we're a lot further along than when we were ending the season with a lot of injuries." -- Saints coach Sean Payton, on a makeover that has produced eight new faces for his 23rd-ranked defense.