The big man is worth his weight in gold. Or actually 11x his weight in gold really. After missing 6 days of training camp and twelve practices, 7th overall pick DT Sedrick Ellis is on his way down to New Orleans to attend today’s afternoon session. And was the hold out worth it? As reported by The Saints Beat, Ellis signed a five-year, maximum $49 million dollar contract with $19.5 million in guarantees. Ellis’ agent, Eugene Parker, had this to say of the contract hold-out:

“Sedrick’s very mature, and he knows that this is part of it. I mean, here’s a guy that stayed for his senior year when he could have been a top-10 pick last year. So he has patience. And he knew this was necessary and it was important…He’s excited to get started doing what he loves to do.”

We’re excited to see Ellis do what he does best. Unfortunately for Matt Leinart, that looks like it will be disrupting his passes when the Saints take on the Cardinals in Arizona, August 7th. And lucks on our side, Trojan fans. That game will be one of the few televised preseason games, 8:00pm on ESPN.