2014 Saints Off Season Thread

Yeah, I know that's the popular line of thinking, but I am willing to bet that Champ has an outstanding year. In limited time last season, he was one of the better performing CBs in the league. A lot of attention has been given to the couple of plays in the Superbowl, but that is not indicative of his body of work. I can't see him coming back, much less the Saints staff signing him if he's around just for the mentoring. They could have signed a coach for much, much less than that.

 

The biggest issue with Champ will be his health. He only played in 5 games last year, but looking at his stats, that's kind of an anomaly. I don't follow Denver at all, so for whatever reason, I was under the impression that he was hurt alot, but that's not the case at all. Last year not included, he's only missed 4 games since 2009.

 

I'm still waiting for them to bring Greer back, too.

 

I'm not hopeful that Greer will return unless we see a rash of injuries. Lewis, Champ, PRob, White, SJB will undoubtedly be the top five. Trevin Wade and Rod Sweeting will no doubt round out the secondary again for a second year. They have both given reason for the coaches to hang onto them another season.

 

Write-up by my good friend Al Dupuy........





Cooks could be special, rest of the Saints draft looks just average
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
By: Al Dupuy
Category: Al Dupuy's Blog


Tavon Rooks had many people saying "who?" when his name was called in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Brandin Cooks has elite talent and speed. The wide receiver from Oregon State was taken by the Saints at #20 in round one after the team gave up their 3rd round selection to move up from #27.

Although a bit undersized, Cooks is a fearless athlete with enough strength to defeat the jam at the line. Payton explained in the media room after the selection that he likes Cooks' mental toughness. The just under 5-foot-10 dynamo ran the fastest 40 yard time of all receivers at the scouting combine at 4.33.

The New Orleans 2nd round pick, Stanley Jean-Baptiste, was taken mostly because he is tall with great length for the corner position. Payton alluded to the idea that the team needed a tall corner because Tampa and Carolina drafted tall receivers. Tampa took Mike Evans (6-5 230) from Texas A&M with the 7th selection in round 1 before Carolina selected wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin (6-5 240), the Florida State BCS title game hero, with the 28th pick in round 1.

My concern about Jean-Baptiste is his lack of elite speed for the corner position, which I asked about to Payton. Is he comfortable with SBJ's speed? "We better be," Payton said blntly before giving a good explanation about how bigger corners may not test as well in the 40 at the combine as smaller corners.

The Saints think Jean-Baptiste is fast enough, and the converted college wide receiver is fluid with the ability to turn and run with receivers. He can also jam receivers at the line. He should also be an asset covering big receivers in the red zone.

The 4th round selection was linebacker Khari Fortt out of California. I think the Saints were thinking special teams help primarily with three straight picks. Gunners and assets for covering punts were noted as areas needing improvement by Payton.

Fortt (6-2, 242) is lean and muscular with long arms; he has an explosive first step and shows a fluid backpedal when dropping into pass coverage. He is coming off an injury however, having played only 9 games in 2013 due to a biceps injury.

The first Saints 5th round pick, safety Vinnie Sunseri from Alabama was having a good season in 2013 until he tore an ACL in his knee. He was one of the better special teams players on the Crimson Tide as a gunner covering kicks. He also played well at strong safety. A physical hitter, Sunseri (5-11 210) attacks the line of scrimmage in run support but is alert and capable in pass coverage.

Another 5th round selection was Ronald Powell (6-2 ½ 237), the Florida product who was one of the top prospects coming out of high school from California. Instead of going to USC, he was intrigued by the SEC and ended up as a Gator. He never really lived up to his top billing due mostly to a series of injuries at the college level.

Powell sat out the 2012 season with a torn ACL and then in 2013 he sprained an ankle against LSU which kept him out of the Missouri game. He was limited against Vanderbilt and Georgia. Powell strained a hamstring running the 40 at the combine as well. So Powell has a lot to prove, mostly that he can stay healthy although he brings great athleticism and ability to develop as an edge pass rusher.

In round 6, the local team surprised draft analysts by taking offensive tackle Tayon Rooks (6-5 299) out of Kansas State. No one really knew this prospect. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper drew a blank, and I don't think he was in any draft publications while even the internet didn't have much on him.

Out of the 256 players drafted, only seven were not in my Draft Day Report publication; one was Rooks. He played the 2013 season at 280 pounds, small for an NFL offensive tackle, but has since bulked up to 299. Rooks has the frame to get a lot bigger. The Saints liked his quickness for a blocker.

Whether most of the picks work out or not may not matter. This organization has done well with undrafted free agents:

This year, New Orleans signed a center from the same school as current interior lineman and former UDFA signee Tim Lelito. Grand Valley State's Matt Armstrong (6-2 302) played 51 games in four years and started at all the offensive line positions in his college career. He graded out very well (97% efficiency) as a senior. An athletic two sport athlete, Armstrong also threw the shot-put.

Brandon Coleman, the wide receiver out of Rutgers is 6-foot-6 and fits the large receiver type the Saints like. He had 20 career touchdowns, tying the school record for scoring catches.

Tim Flanders is a running back from Sam Houston State. The Saints have a history of finding good running backs after the draft and Flanders (5-9 210) was the Southland Conference's all-time leading rusher and scoring leader. He scored an unreal 66 touchdowns with 14 touchdowns as a senior.

The Saints also added a quarterback to compete in Logan Kilgore (6-3 206) from Middle Tennessee State. He started for three seasons and had 61 percent completions. He threw for 16 touchdowns as a senior and 53 for his college career.

In all, 17 undrafted rookies were officially signed, and more will be given a try-out at the rookie Min-Camp this weekend. As always, the draft is an inexact science. We'll see what rookies end up the best candidates to help New Orleans, no matter how they ended up here.

- See more at: http://www.sportsnol...h.VlRD1nrN.dpuf

 

A little more on Al Dupuy, he has missed only one Saints home game, during the franchise history, yep, only one. He has his own draft guide, if you look at his writeup, this sticks out..."Out of the 256 players drafted, only seven were not in my Draft Day Report publication." That should tell you something. Congrats to Al.

 

Well that sucks because he obviously knows what he's talking about and he grades their draft as average, beyond Cooks. For Jean-Baptiste, he's unsure of his speed to play corner. But really, what's the difference in separation of someone that runs a 4.4 and a 4.6? We're talking 2/10ths of a second. Enough to win a race over 40 yards, but you're not exactly leaving the 4.6 guy in the dust. I would think he's fast enough to make plays.

 

good to see someone putting in his own work. the todd mcshays are annoying puppets. this idiot had jonny vegas going to dallas in the first round? it wasnt mathematically possible. i still like kiper because he is an og with the draft. there from the beginning and does his work despite a stupid article saying differently.

so this aj guy has some pretty good stuff and original opinions are hard to come by these days.

 

Yep, I like what Al has to say. Another quick story on Al. I was at a Draft Party in Tx with a number of players and coaches. When it came close to time for the Texans to make their pick, one of the coaches there roomed 5 years with Kubiak the Texans coach then, when they were both at A&M. I looked at the book and Al had them taking Whitney Merclius. Kubiak's friend said that he had talked with him the night before and
Merclius was one of the players they were looking hard at taking. Al does a better job than most, if you follow the draft, his book is a good one.
To add: Like I said, Al has only missed one Saints home game, Al also has his wooded seats from old Tulane Stadium, from when he started going to his first Saints game there.