Zack Baun: Top Graded LB / DPOTW [Why Baun Isn’t a Saint Thread]

livefromDC said
There's observations/speculation and then there's the truth. The revisionist history on this thread is ridiculous.

From the article below:
“Zack’s probably best, we felt like, as an outside backer and an on-the-ball backer,” Allen said. “He’s got some rush ability.”
Allen didn’t rule out the idea that Baun could still play inside as a linebacker, but it was clear the Saints had come to the conclusion that he was more likely to have success as a pass rusher.

Here's a DIRECT QUOTE from Allen himself refuting what people in this thread are saying HE believed! LOL! He didn't see him as a MLB!

https://www.nj.com/eagles/2024/05/e...coach-thought-he-was-best.html?outputType=amp
This article is from May. Let's be clear. THIS is how Allen saw Baun. Special teams, OLB, pass rusher. He was never seriously considered by Allen as a MLB. As a backup LBer, he backed up MULTIPLE LB POSITIONS in case of injury. Just like Jackson now and other LBs before him. But he was used almost solely as an OLB, then at the end pass rusher. Trying to reframe this when so much evidence to the contrary exists is just silly.

He missed it. He played Baun out of position and others. Now he's gone. Trying to defend this is just...weird. The truth is obvious, let it go.

I'll respond to this in all honesty and say that wasn't what I understood/recalled to be the case at all.

I thought/recalled that he was a successful outside rusher in college based on his ability to bully people at that level, came in as a project to become an off ball LB (a choice people on the forum endlessly criticised the team for, needlessly moving a player out of position etc.), he didn't break through and then Allen started talking about him as a situational ST and edge guy, as a way to make use of him.

The following two articles, one from when he was drafted, and another as he entered free agency, seem to agree:

https://www.neworleanssaints.com/news/zack-baun-saints-draft-picks-2020-rookie-roots

"We saw someone that we felt was going to be drafted in the top 20 picks of the second round," Saints Coach Sean Payton said. "We felt like this was a player that would be hard for us to get because we didn't have a second-round pick. Fortunately, he came within range and we were able to make a trade.

"He had a lot of production in college as a rush end. He's a guy that we think can play at the Mike position and the Sam position. I do like his pressure traits, but we see him as someone that can play in a stack position if need be or certainly be a guy that can give us some versatility as a rusher."

https://www.si.com/nfl/saints/edito... rusher Zack Baun,last year with the Badgers.
If that's not actually the sequence of events, happy to be informed.

But at the same time, the contortions people are going through, to retrospectively claim that Davis is a fading player who was not fit to be retained, just so that people can satisfy their need to criticize the team is ridiculous. Not to mention, lambasting the team when Baun was here for moving him to off ball LB, while later lambasting the team for not seeing his potential as an off ball LB?