ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas says "Just take Defense"

[SaintsFan7]

Let's start with the New Orleans Saints, who hold the division's earliest pick at No. 14 overall. What do the Saints really need on offense, besides a pitching machine for practice to keep Drew Brees' arm from wearing out? Not much, really. Yeah, they could use a power running back to go with Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas and a lot of fans are making a case for using the first-round pick on Ohio State's Chris "Beanie" Wells.

But let's think back to last season for a moment. The Saints had plenty of offense. They didn't make the playoffs because they couldn't play defense. They fired defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs and spent a fortune to replace him with Gregg Williams. They've spent their offseason overhauling the defensive personnel by bringing in the likes of Jabari Greer, Darren Sharper, Paul Spicer and getting Dan Morgan back from retirement.

That's all good, but it's time to finish the job for a change. About this time last year, we all thought the Saints had fixed their defense when they drafted Sedrick Ellis and signed Jonathan Vilma. It wasn't enough as injuries ended up tearing the defense down. This year's moves aren't enough, either.

The Saints need one more strong defensive player with their first pick. I say take Ohio State safety Malcolm Jenkins. If he's gone, take defensive back Vontae Davis or defensive tackle Peria Jerry or linebacker Brian Cushing or linebacker Clay Matthews.

Just take defense.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcsouth/...nse-early.html


I don't agree with this thought process. I rather go with what Loomis said on Siruis radio last week BPA on your draft board.

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

I'll repeat this again, the chant "just take defense" is a knee jerk reaction and short sighted. You take a defensive player if he's the best player on your board or equal to an offensive player. If the offensive player is ranked higher you take him.

[BACKLASH]

You need a better Defense; PERIOD!!!!!

[rjackson57]

Actually, Loomis didn't say that they would simply select best player on the board. That is the general philosophy, however, there are many scenarios that should be considered. He stated that if the BPA involved a position that wasn't necessarily a "need position" that player would need to rated a couple of notches higher than the other players available. He used Will Smith as an example. They were not out looking for a DE however, Will was graded much higher than the other players available.

The Saints have a general philosophy of selecting best available, however, there is much flexibility if that player is not a need player.

[Purple Haze]

Originally Posted by CHI-TOWNSAINT

I'll repeat this again, the chant "just take defense" is a knee jerk reaction and short sighted. You take a defensive player if he's the best player on your board or equal to an offensive player. If the offensive player is ranked higher you take him.

I agree. If we can't trade down, take the BPA. If they think that's Moreno or Maclin, Wells of whoever else then take him.

[SaintsFan7]

Originally Posted by rjackson57

Actually, Loomis didn't say that they would simply select best player on the board. That is the general philosophy, however, there are many scenarios that should be considered. He stated that if the BPA involved a position that wasn't necessarily a "need position" that player would need to rated a couple of notches higher than the other players available. He used Will Smith as an example. They were not out looking for a DE however, Will was graded much higher than the other players available.

The Saints have a general philosophy of selecting best available, however, there is much flexibility if that player is not a need player.

Yes he did, he flat out said it again on Sirius radio. He flat out said they will take the BPA at the top ofr their draft chart.

[VicksburgSaint]

Oh yeah....BPA....like Meachum a couple years ago? Yeah, that was a brilliant move. We had even LESS defense than we do now....needed D playmakers bigtime.

Passed on all defensive players to choose a WR that we all pray MIGHT start producing significantly 3 yrs later.

Choose best DEFENSIVE player available. And again...and again...and again.

[SaintGreenie]

Originally Posted by CHI-TOWNSAINT

I'll repeat this again, the chant "just take defense" is a knee jerk reaction and short sighted. You take a defensive player if he's the best player on your board or equal to an offensive player. If the offensive player is ranked higher you take him.

I disagree that it's short sighted. We've neglected defense in the first round for way too long. Since 2001 we've only taken 3 defensive players in the first round, and they were all linemen. We need to bring young talent to the defensive back seven.

IMO thinking that the stop-gap free agents we brought in are enough to plug up the defense is short sighted.

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

Originally Posted by VicksburgSaint

Oh yeah....BPA....like Meachum a couple years ago? Yeah, that was a brilliant move. We had even LESS defense than we do now....needed D playmakers bigtime.

Passed on all defensive players to choose a WR that we all pray MIGHT start producing significantly 3 yrs later.

Choose best DEFENSIVE player available. And again...and again...and again.

Deuce was BPA when we didn't need that position, how do you feel about that move?

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

Originally Posted by SaintGreenie

I disagree that it's short sighted. We've neglected defense in the first round for way too long. Since 2001 we've only taken 3 defensive players in the first round, and they were all linemen. We need to bring young talent to the defensive back seven.

IMO thinking that the stop-gap free agents we brought in are enough to plug up the defense is short sighted.

So you can't connect the dots and see that picking player A, that is rated lower than player B, because our defense was bad last year is short sighted than I don't know what to say. This isn't the last draft of all time, we'll have another one next year and another FA period. The holes are filled for this year, so why not pick the BPA for our future?

BTW, we don't just have 1 pick this year, we have 4. We can still get young in the back 7 if we don't pick a defensive player in the first round.

[saintmike23]

Originally Posted by SaintsFan7

Yes he did, he flat out said it again on Sirius radio. He flat out said they will take the BPA at the top ofr their draft chart.

No he didn't say that. He said it was a mixture of BPA and need. He said that the if a player was there at a position they were strong in he would have to be ''head and shoulders'' above the rest to take him.

With our 14th pick, is the mentality BPA or a combination of BPA and need?

"It's definitely a combination." Trying to set themselves up in early part of offseason to be able to take BPA. If the player is at a position that we are strong in, he will have to be "head and shoulders" above the other players on the board for us to take him over a position that we could use. It happened when we drafted Deuce while we already had Ricky. Happened again with Will Smith while we had Darren Howard and Charles Grant. If when we draft, there are 3 or 4 guys that are graded really close to eachother, then we will almost certainly go with the player that addresses a need. One advantage of having the 14th pick is that there will probably be 4 or 5 players with similar grades, so they will be able to fill a position of need.


End.

[VicksburgSaint]

Deuce turned out to be a great pick. Given that our FO had the mental aptitude to see that Ricky was toast, I would put that in the category of a need pick though.

The FO may know something similar with this team. We don't know. But based on what we DO (think) we know, it's a no-brainer that we need defense.

I get the feeling that most of our fans forget what it's like to have a dominant defense that actually WINS 3-4 games each year. Timely turnovers, crucial stops on the goal-line and in short yardage, pivotal sacks that take teams out of field-goal range. These are things we just haven't seen in a VERY long time.

It's time to get serious about building a dominant defense before we run out of gas on offense.

[saints5193]

Originally Posted by CHI-TOWNSAINT

So you can't connect the dots and see that picking player A, that is rated lower than player B, because our defense was bad last year is short sighted than I don't know what to say. This isn't the last draft of all time, we'll have another one next year and another FA period. The holes are filled for this year, so why not pick the BPA for our future?

BTW, we don't just have 1 pick this year, we have 4. We can still get young in the back 7 if we don't pick a defensive player in the first round.

Chi you are preaching to the choir. Going bpa is the best way to draft. You draft for the future not for one season. Take BPA

[nolafan33]

Unfortunetly, it isn't that simple.

If a offensive player is the BPA on the Saints board, he will be the pick. People will have to live with that.

[saintmike23]

Originally Posted by nolafan33

Unfortunetly, it isn't that simple.

If a offensive player is the BPA on the Saints board, he will be the pick. People will have to live with that.

It is not that simple either. If the offensive player is Maclin or Crabtree he will be the pick. If it is Sanchez or an OT he won't be the pick. And I highly doubt that a RB will be the pick -they simply don't rate higher than the defenders.

[Doombot]

You take BPA if the player is low risk. I'm not in favor of taking a RB with injury history while we already have multiple players at that position that I'm happy with. I'd rather see a DE, DT, LB, or DB before Beanie. I'd even rather see an OL.

Build for the future and add depth. If we make a run this year, it won't be based on our first rounder next week anyway.

[SaintsFan7]

Originally Posted by saintmike23

No he didn't say that. He said it was a mixture of BPA and need. He said that the if a player was there at a position they were strong in he would have to be ''head and shoulders'' above the rest to take him.

"In this draft I think we would look towards defense initially, but as you guy have seen in the past, where about taking the Best Player that's availble to us when we pick and I think where in that position to some degree".

Siruis Radio

The Fact

[saintmike23]

Originally Posted by SaintsFan7

"In this draft I think we would look towards defense initially, but as you guy have seen in the past, where about taking the Best Player that's availble to us when we pick and I think where in that position to some degree".

The Fact

Is that the Sirius interview? I trust what he says locally over the national broadcast. Also, he left a caveat there ''to some degree.''

He later said on WWL that there are 4-5 players in a position of need. The quote I gave you was more specific and it gave some insight into their strategy.

And also your quote says nearly the same thing. "In this draft I think we would look towards defense initially'' BPA comes into play if a guy like Maclin falls. Otherwise it is best defensive player available.

[Joseph Guidry]

Yasinkas is right: Our priority needs to be defense, not another offensive skill player. Obviously, it would be foolish to reach for a need on the first day of the draft, but I find it hard to believe there won't be a defensive player still on the board (a lineman, CB, or even a LB) who would be just as valuable--if not moreso--than Wells or Moreno. Besides, how many times has the supposed BPA turned out to be the big impact player the team thought it was drafting? Those who advocate "BPA" without regard for the team's actual needs and schemes act like drafting is an exact science instead of the art it really is. The key to drafting is finding the right fit for the team's situation, not the mythical BPA. And, to reiterate, finding the right fit is not the same as reaching to fill a need. We were able to fill a critical defensive need without reaching last year by picking Sedrick Ellis. Hopefully, we can do the same thing this year.

[shaihulud]

When you draft the BPA, it's to get a guy with a name like 'Ironhead', or 'Deuce'. You never draft anyone with a name like 'Beanie'. If he IS called Beanie, he can't be the BPA.

[rjackson57]

Originally Posted by SaintsFan7

Yes he did, he flat out said it again on Sirius radio. He flat out said they will take the BPA at the top ofr their draft chart.

Hey, I am going by his words in the WWL interview. Maybe he said something slightly different in another interview but in this interview he clearly stated what I posted above. St Chadwick provided the interview. Take a listen.

[SaintsFan7]

Originally Posted by rjackson57

Hey, I am going by his words in the WWL interview. Maybe he said something slightly different in another interview but in this interview he clearly stated what I posted above. St Chadwick provided the interview. Take a listen.

Yes sir your right, I meant to reference the Sirius Interview.

[Ltr0x]

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[SaintsFan7]

Originally Posted by saintmike23

Is that the Sirius interview? I trust what he says locally over the national broadcast. Also, he left a caveat there ''to some degree.''

He later said on WWL that there are 4-5 players in a position of need. The quote I gave you was more specific and it gave some insight into their strategy.

And also your quote says nearly the same thing. "In this draft I think we would look towards defense initially'' BPA comes into play if a guy like Maclin falls. Otherwise it is best defensive player available.

I think Chris and Knowshon are in the conversation as well. They maybe the only 2 Offensive players the Saints are considering in Round 1.

[donato]

It'll be Jenkins or Moreno. Game over.