My problem with what the Saints did was less of a problem with who they selected and more of a problem with who they wanted select. The Saints wanted Foster. Foster was an undersized LB with personality concerns...but even more of concern was his injury history. He has a history of concussions and a playing style that leads to concussions, and has a bum shoulder. Somehow, someway, despite just about every other team not clearing Foster medically...the Saints cleared him...or did they? Clearly, the Saints were going to take him...but was he medically cleared by the Saints medical staff? Is the Saints medical staff competent? Or did the Saints medical staff NOT clear Foster, and Payton want to get him anyway? Any way you slice it...I have big concerns because this is a team that has been absolutely devastated by injury in the past few seasons. I suppose that shouldn't be surprised by the blunder that would have been if Foster would have lasted one more pick. It makes me question the Saints medical eval of Lattimore...along with many of their other draft selections. Medical is probably the most important part of the scouting process and the Saints simply don't appear to know what they are doing.
But why did the Saints select Williams? Largely because Byrd was a monumental bust at the FS. Another Saints player that the staff fell in love with...while completely overlooking his medical concerns.
The shoulder is a bit more of a concern...but again...I generally have quite a bit of trust in the UF staff. Though I don't completely trust the Saints evaluation of injuries...at least there's enough there for me to have some confidence that he will stay healthy. The player that Anzalone is trying to replace is another guy with an overlooked medical history, Dannell Ellerbe.
And then Unger needs surgery on his foot. Unbelievable...well actually, not that unbelievable if you've been paying attention.
Unger's missed multiple games and significant parts of past seasons because of foot injuries. He was injured late last year...again with a "foot". Is this a continuation of prior injuries? Is this a new foot injury to throw on top of all the prior ones? Tough to say with limited info available. But it is a bit frustrating that Unger is 31 years old, was just handed a long-term contract extension, and now has an injury very known to him that will keep him out the beginning of next year with a hellacious opening schedule.
I'll reply here on Fairley because though it's a different player, it's the same old tired theme.
Nick Fairley had a KNOWN cardiac condition before the NFL draft, and was re-signed to a nice sized, multi-year contract March of this year. Now there are reports that Fairleys career may be in jeopardy due to a cardiac condition. So, I think that it's natural on my part to be frustrated with the Saints organization over this ordeal. Even if Fairley's career isn't over...it again shows that the Saints front office is incompetent in regard to medical risk. If I was in the Saints front office...I'm not signing anyone without a thorough examination and medical record. So I see it one of three ways: 1) the screening didn't take place, 2) Fairley developed symptoms in the four month window between the time of signing the contract (March 2017) and now (June 2017), 3) Fairley has been symptomatic and not telling anyone until after signing the multi-year contract.
Let's look at the medical staff. John Amoss is the team physician, is internal medicine trained from LSU. He is the medical chief and serves as residency program director for Touro Internal Medicine. With his resume, there is no question that he is a competent physician. But he's not Sports Medicine trained...and serving as team physician is one of his many jobs.
The Saints have two Orthopedic surgeons on staff, Deryk Jones and Misty Siri. Both are quite accomplished...Jones is Sports Medicine trained through Harvard Medical. He dabbles with regenerative therapies. Suri trained at Steadman Hawkins, which is a reputable Ortho fellowship.
If I was to tweak the staff...I would bring in a primary care Sports Medicine trained physician. The reason is that surgeons are trained to operate...but screening, prevention, and non-surgical management is better served by someone in primary care. Unfortunately, the doc the Saints have in primary care is not Sports Med trained. Though I'm sure he is a competent primary care provider, he isn't Sports Med trained.
it is really hard to compose myself over this situation. First, I'm glad that Fairley stumbled across a competent medical staff for a change...it may have been the difference between life and death for him.
This has to be one of the biggest organizational blunders that I have seen since I became a devout Saints fan in 2000. How can you sign a guy to a mega-contract extension without taking his pre-existing cardiac condition seriously before hand? How does that happen in an NFL franchise filled with people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more to appreciate the details? And sometimes the details can be trivial...but this one was an obvious blunder.
How this franchise hasn't learned that a player's health is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT attribute to consider in scouting and determining who to sign/draft quite frankly blows my mind. This is an NFL franchise, with professional executives making decisions, with a professional medical staff who is suppose to be engaged with the executives. There's an ENORMOUS disconnect between medical and the front office. People are going to say "fire the doctors"...and depending on the situation, that isn't completely out of the question...but I fear that is not the bigger part of the problem.