Stephone Anthony and other personnel questions (1 Viewer)

[mondoburger]

Has there been any indication from the saints organization if they are moving on from him after the healthy scratches and lack of production this season, or is there still hope he will be a starting caliber lb'er for years to come?


Other things I'm curious about :
-The saints thoughts on fleener? Did he look bad enough to join the dreaded "dead money" team?
-Will the saints have confidence in any other oft injured dbs to rely on them as a starter entering next year ? (Swann , Breaux , Williams ... Or even a returning Keenan Lewis ??? Kind of joking about him)
-do the saints think it is a major priority to get a legitamte pass catching running back ? I hope so

 

[Slaw]

All great questions that I doubt anyone here has the answers to. I would also love to know.

 

[dutar76]

All great questions that I doubt anyone here has the answers to. I would also love to know.

Oh so not true... we ALL have the answers!

 

[dutar76]

Has there been any indication from the saints organization if they are moving on from him after the healthy scratches and lack of production this season, or is there still hope he will be a starting caliber lb'er for years to come? He'll be back to compete next season. You don't let athleticism like that walk until there's nothing to try for.


Other things I'm curious about :
-The saints thoughts on fleener? Did he look bad enough to join the dreaded "dead money" team? Same as Anthony, but they'll be a little more head strong with him since we devoted so much money
-Will the saints have confidence in any other oft injured dbs to rely on them as a starter entering next year ? (Swann , Breaux , Williams ... Or even a returning Keenan Lewis ??? Kind of joking about him)All these guys come back and if we add a CB it'll be for competition purposes. All teams have injuries. You just know more about ours because you're a Saints fan.
-do the saints think it is a major priority to get a legitimate pass catching running back ? I hope soI sure as hell hope so. I'd like to believe SP cries himself to sleep at night for letting Sproles go to the Eagles.

Good questions!

 

[SMDelcambre]

To me, there's no reason to cut Anthony before the last year on his rookie contract. Give him another year to learn.

Same with Fleener. Let him play it out until the savings outweighs the dead money. If he can't get one the same page as Brees with a full offseason, though, he should be shown the door next year.

I think Cadet is serviceable as a catching back, but obviously there may be a few opportunities in the draft. I wouldn't sign anyone on the market for that role unless it were Sproles. Just my .02.

 

[Nightshade]

Fleener has 593 yards on the season which is enough to keep him around.

 

[wnelson]

Has there been any indication from the saints organization if they are moving on from him after the healthy scratches and lack of production this season, or is there still hope he will be a starting caliber lb'er for years to come?


Other things I'm curious about :
-The saints thoughts on fleener? Did he look bad enough to join the dreaded "dead money" team?
-Will the saints have confidence in any other oft injured dbs to rely on them as a starter entering next year ? (Swann , Breaux , Williams ... Or even a returning Keenan Lewis ??? Kind of joking about him)
-do the saints think it is a major priority to get a legitamte pass catching running back ? I hope so

fleener stays for several reasons.
I hope we draft CB high in the draft and hit gold
I think lasco may be that guy moving forward

but what do I know?

 

[GilFinnerty]

You let Anthony play out his rookie contract. See if the light bulb comes on. Good athlete with poor instincts and football IQ. Fleener should be better then he his. He is the type
Of guy that looks great in shorts. Good height/weight/speed athlete but he is having trouble with the option route concecpts which dictate his route tree plus there is a hitch in his game to go with some lacking in physicality. He can break and create separation in man coverage but when a ball is thrown to him he has a hitch in his gait like he wants to almost stop before he catches it.

 

[AshleyShaffer]

Has there been any indication from the saints organization if they are moving on from him after the healthy scratches and lack of production this season, or is there still hope he will be a starting caliber lb'er for years to come?


Other things I'm curious about :
-The saints thoughts on fleener? Did he look bad enough to join the dreaded "dead money" team?
-Will the saints have confidence in any other oft injured dbs to rely on them as a starter entering next year ? (Swann , Breaux , Williams ... Or even a returning Keenan Lewis ??? Kind of joking about him)
-do the saints think it is a major priority to get a legitamte pass catching running back ? I hope so

It's gotta be considered a long-shot for Anthony to become an above average starting LB in the future. He lacks instincts and awareness and those things are imperative. Remember though, the Saints selected Anthony and Kikaha before any other MLB prospect was taken. Kendricks, McKinney, and Perriman have all become above average starters already and are all still getting better. SMH

Fleener is soft and inconsistent. They overpaid for him and got burned. He's gonna be back next season though. Too much wasted money to cut him this soon. I think Hill will be the top TE for us next season, and Phillips will stick too.

Breaux is a keeper for sure. He'll be back and he's the best CB we have on the team. He also still has upside. Sterling Moore should also be back. He's been solid and he certainly earned a longer stay. I also really like the potential there in Crawley. PJ Williams will get every chance to get right, as he earned the starting spot entering the season. Swann (unfortunately) I believe is done.

I'm praying that Cadet doesn't do enough in these meaningless games to trick the Saints into thinking he's the guy for our Joker RB role. Payton sure seems to like him though (for some reason). There are at least 10 guys in the draft that could easily replace and upgrade our offense from Cadet.

 

[guillermo]

Has there been any indication from the saints organization if they are moving on from him after the healthy scratches and lack of production this season, or is there still hope he will be a starting caliber lb'er for years to come?





Other things I'm curious about :

-The saints thoughts on fleener? Did he look bad enough to join the dreaded "dead money" team?

-Will the saints have confidence in any other oft injured dbs to rely on them as a starter entering next year ? (Swann , Breaux , Williams ... Or even a returning Keenan Lewis ??? Kind of joking about him)

-do the saints think it is a major priority to get a legitamte pass catching running back ? I hope so

On Anthony, there are a couple of lessons we should have learned from previous experience.

- About first rounders, make a priority about instincts and football smarts, be sure you have a definite plan on how to use the player and that he is capable of doing it.

- Be patient, some players take more time to fully develop, call this the Malcolm Jenkins lesson.

 

[Domeination]

We've got to hope Anthony can develop into a decent LB. Moving him from the middle to the strong side did not help his development, and he also has some kind of knee injury, which held him back this season. Considering that Anthony was moved from the middle to plug in an over the hill Laurinaitis and how poorly that worked out, I just have to scratch my head. Fleener has been o.k. this season and has actually gotten a little bit better as the season has gone on. He has earned another year. I would love for us to be able to get a joker RB of Sproles' quality, but I think we have bigger needs to fill first, like a pass-rushing DE, an OG, another LB, another OT, and even another CB. I have no doubt we will bring in another RB, but I don't think we have to draft high or break the bank in FA to do so. The silver lining is that this year's draft is looking great, and we did manage to bring in some high-return, low-cost FAs like Robertson and Moore.

 

[crosswatt]

It's gotta be considered a long-shot for Anthony to become an above average starting LB in the future. He lacks instincts and awareness and those things are imperative. Remember though, the Saints selected Anthony and Kikaha before any other MLB prospect was taken. Kendricks, McKinney, and Perriman have all become above average starters already and are all still getting better. SMH

I don’t think the issue is that he lacks either one of those traits. From Payton’s comments, I think that he just goes into some type of sensory overload with all the information presented in such a short window of time, and he hasn’t yet figured out how to process it quickly enough to make the right call. He didn’t show much growth from being off the front lines, and was even struggling in special teams coverage, but seemed to show some indication of starting to get it with his spot start against Tampa, so maybe he’s turning the corner and can be a productive part of the defense going forward. At least I sincerely hope so.

Fleener is soft and inconsistent. They overpaid for him and got burned. He's gonna be back next season though. Too much wasted money to cut him this soon. I think Hill will be the top TE for us next season, and Phillips will stick too.

I’m still ok with Fleener. He can be a viable part of the offense. Dan Campbell just needs to do some offseason work with him on his concentration in traffic. I don’t think that they would have signed him if they didn’t think that the issue is correctable, and will make it a focal point for next season.

Breaux is a keeper for sure. He'll be back and he's the best CB we have on the team. He also still has upside. Sterling Moore should also be back. He's been solid and he certainly earned a longer stay. I also really like the potential there in Crawley. PJ Williams will get every chance to get right, as he earned the starting spot entering the season. Swann (unfortunately) I believe is done.

Kyle Wilson was playing well before his labrum tear, so hopefully he returns on an inexpensive deal and contributes again. Jimmy Pruitt was another young corner that was spoken of highly in camp. Might be a nice surprise if he can also return healthy.

I'm praying that Cadet doesn't do enough in these meaningless games to trick the Saints into thinking he's the guy for our Joker RB role. Payton sure seems to like him though (for some reason). There are at least 10 guys in the draft that could easily replace and upgrade our offense from Cadet.

Cadet is where he is supposed to be nine times out of ten. That is more valuable to Payton than explosiveness any day of the week. It was what helped Pierre Thomas beat out Antonio Pittman, even though Pittman had all the physical tools you could ever want. He just wasn’t dependable in terms of the assignment he was given. But it would be nice to find a younger and more athletic option who could also check those boxes.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

I wrote this in my notes yesterday to get ready for my end of season evaluation.


Mark Ingram is in his prime starting next year. Despite sharing carries with Hightower and being in an offense that primarily throws the ball he's on the verge of his 1st 1000 yd season and his 1st with 5.0 ypc or higher. I think you ride him out the last 2 years of his contract and you build the offense around Ingram, Drew, and Michael Thomas.

This will probably be one of the bigger Olines/talented Olines that we've had since his Arrival and he's probably the best he'll be at reading blocks.

1st - You sign a dominant G. I'm begging for Zietler here. I'll be fine with drafting one but if you can get a nasty guy like Zeitler here from the AFC west you make him prime objective #1. I've seen vids where he blocked 2 guys on the play. You open up the holes for Ingram wide enough and he'll get the yards.

2nd - You walk away from Hightower. The game where Mark got fired up about not getting his touches is the perfect barometer for where he's at now as a player. The confidence is there that he should get the ball more, the 5.0 ypc is a good indicator as is his chance at his 1st 1K season with under 300 touches. Give him the ball especially on the goal line. Just develop Lasco to spell him for 5-10 carries a game and ST's touches.

3rd- I noticed how the Jet sweep opened things up for him and we know he needs a speed compliment. Sign Reggie and call it a day. You can manufacture holes for him along with having a good line you can also make defenses play certain ways based on personnel, and I can guarantee Reggie is still more of a threat on a Jet Sweep than Cadet ever will be. You bring a LB out the box or force a team to put an extra DB on the field and this again opens up bigger holes for Ingram.

#4 - Just give him the ball. He's earned it.

 

[Goatman Saint]

All these guys will be back. Anthony is still learning, hopefully it starts to slow down and come together for him. Fleener will be back also. Williams and Breaux will certainly be back. Breaux was never completely ready to come back after his fibula, and Williams injury was a complete freak accident. He could've returned this season, but you have to give Payton credit for shutting him down, and letting him completely heal.

 

[CRESS_137]

I hope we can salvage Anthony, but considering who his positional coach is, I have limited hope.

Fleener needs to work with Brees every day next offseason to get on the same page as him with reads and also jugs machine 24/7. His lack of focus led to wayyy to many crucial drops this season. I would give him a pass for his first year, but he is making too much money for pedestrian mistakes like these.