Biggest Questions for 2019 Saints (1 Viewer)

[RJ in Lafayette]

These are my biggest questions for 2019 for the Saints:

1. Marcus Williams. He regressed in 2018. Based on his rookie season, he looked a future blue-chip player. Not so in 2018 where his instincts and ball skills, his strengths in 2017, looked average, and he looked as though he never fully overcame the missed tackle in the Minnesota playoff game.

2. Marcus Davenport. He is good. The questions are how good and how quickly can he come close to realizing his potential.

3. Terron Armstead. Can he stay healthy?

4. Marshon Lattimore. In 2017, he was one of the best cornerbacks in the game. In 2018, he looked slower and did not match his high level of play as a rookie. I am expecting a return to his 2017 form.

5. Young WRs. Do we have a young wide receiver on this roster who can step up his game and become at least an average number two receiver?

6. Aaron Glenn and Dennis Allen. Glenn has a great reputation, but last year two young DBs regressed, Williams noticeably and Lattimore if slightly. And Dennis Allen has talent to work with. Excluding Rankins, we have on defense 5 first-round picks, 3 second-round picks, and 2 third-round picks. We don't have late round picks and undrafted free agents on defense. It is time for the defense to move to an even higher level.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Counting Patrick Robinson, 6 first-round picks on defense. And if Rankins comes back this year, which will be difficult, 7 first-round picks on defense.

 

[TribuneUK]

1. 4. and 6. seem to lack an actual question. Guessing you mean areas that are question marks.

The answer to 5. is, has been, and currently remains Ted Ginn. Until someone proves otherwise.

 

[renegadewa]

I'm not that concerned about the talent on the team because if you ask anyone they will tell you that the Saints are stacked as well as any NFL team even being considered in the top 5 in the entire league.

My one question would be can the team summon it up again and make another serious run in what I believe will be the last season we see #9 under center for the Saints?

 

[onanygivensunday]

One question could be how have the last two years of playing the equivalent of 2.25 years affect the team in 2019?

The Saints have played 36 games combined in 2017 and 2018, which is four more games than teams which did not go the playoffs in those years,

Those extra games start to take a toll eventually... just a thought.

 

[tinman]

Williams is the weak link?!
Playing out of position w/an over the hill safety on the other side, covering for severely poor CB play(as evidenced by Robinson on IR flipping around different backups on the 1st team & acquiring Apple), has as much, if not more, reason for a decline.
You're giving Williams no credit.

 

[Trey W.]

While I’m not a secondary expert, it would be nice for someone who has that “all 22” or what ever it’s called analyze and see what kind of coverage Williams played most of the time. I think he played a lot of single high safety which means his main focus was being deeper than the deepest WR. Bell and Coleman seemed to be used more as closer up and underneath safeties. If so Williams stats would not be that great, plus he also had to cover for Crawley playing horrible the first quarter of the season, Apple coming in having to get adjusted, and P.J. playing slot. Im not saying Williams is the greatest FS ever but I don’t honk all the blame falls On him

 

[dutar76]

These are my biggest questions for 2019 for the Saints:

1. Marcus Williams. He regressed in 2018. Based on his rookie season, he looked a future blue-chip player. Not so in 2018 where his instincts and ball skills, his strengths in 2017, looked average, and he looked as though he never fully overcame the missed tackle in the Minnesota playoff game. Sophomore slump is cliche', but it's a real thing. Not only in football and other sports, but in the workforce, education, etc... If our 2017 rookies would not have looked so amazing their rookie season, we wouldn't even be talking about this. Marcus Williams showed some big time "flashes" as a rookie. His mis-cues were written off a normal growing pains for a rookie... which was absolutely correct. Last year he looked very average. Not bad. He still played WAY better than a former blue-chipper we had named Jarius Byrd ever did for us. For as long as I can remember, in football, year 3 is when you expect the light to come on for players. That's when the physical conditioning, technique, and football acumen finally reach a professional level, and you finally see what you really have in a player. Or they don't and they become "just a guy" or "just another guy who didn't make it." And I don't buy into the theory that the "miracle" blooper was the reason for his "poor" play. I could be wrong, but I think it has more to do with offenses figuring out his weaknesses and tendencies and exploiting them. And that this year we'll see if he's done enough self-scouting and improving to counter that.

2. Marcus Davenport. He is good. The questions are how good and how quickly can he come close to realizing his potential.
Again, year 3 is usually when you start seeing what a player really is. Before that it's all flashes and potential. D-line play is as much about technique and being consistent as it is about talent and physical attributes. I wouldn't be surprised if he had somewhat of a sophomore slump and still sees the same or even improved numbers from his rookie year. Barring injury, Davenport will likely see a lot more snaps this season. To me it's encouraging that the team did not seriously pursue another DE to split time with Marcus, even after Okafor left for KC. They know where he's at better than we do, so I'm hoping the reason for this is because Dav has shown them enough to make them feel he's ready, not because we miss out on other options for whatever reason.

3. Terron Armstead. Can he stay healthy? This is a fair question. However, I've read that LT's are notorious for getting injured across the league. Makes sense. Those guys are BIG and they're going against smaller guys that are extremely quick, agile, strong, and athletic on every play. Their HUGE bodies are constantly having to do things that defy the laws of physics to stop edge rushers. That brings to mind Andrus Peat. He's been injured a lot as well, but I don't recall him ever getting injured playing the guard position. I think all his major injures have happened after he'd been forced to slide out to left tackle. I pray for my family, friends, Armstead, world peace, and my enemies... in that order.

4. Marshon Lattimore. In 2017, he was one of the best cornerbacks in the game. In 2018, he looked slower and did not match his high level of play as a rookie. I am expecting a return to his 2017 form. Marshon only played poorly compared to the elite CBs of the league. Even early in the year when he struggled, he was an above average corner. Around the mid-way point, he seemed to get it back together and looked a lot more like the player we were expecting. Again, the sophomore slump is real. He was flat out amazing as a rookie and great in his second year. I don't think there was anything "wrong" with Lattimore last year. I think the fault lies on we fans and our unrealistic expectations of him. He was extremely raw. He had very little college experience even when he arrived in New Orleans. He's still developing, and player development is not linear. His football acumen was nowhere near the level of his physical abilities. But this is his 3rd season... The season where those two things usually start to match up. No worries. Marshon is an elite talent, and I can't imagine him being anything less than a great cornerback for us for a long time.

5. Young WRs. Do we have a young wide receiver on this roster who can step up his game and become at least an average number two receiver? I agree with UK... Ginn is our #2 option at WIDE RECEIVER until somebody takes that title from him. But as far as receiving options, Ginn is "maybe" #3, but more likely... #4. That pecking order goes 1. Thomas 2. Kamara 3. Cook. After that it's Ginn then whichever receiver(s) step up, whether it's Smith, Kirkwood, Matthews, Meredith, Carr, Cobbs, Butler, Humphreys, TEs Mack or Arnold, or even RB Murray. Last season we had MT, AK, and once in a while somebody else would make a play. When Ginn was healthy and we had 3 legitimate experienced receiving threats, our offense was it's usual top 5 self. When Ginn was out, we were just an above average offense. Just having Ginn back healthy and adding a pro bowl stud receiving TE is plenty enough to bring our offense back up to elite status. Any other receiver or receivers that step up might just be the difference in us having the #3 or #1 offense this season.

6. Aaron Glenn and Dennis Allen. Glenn has a great reputation, but last year two young DBs regressed, Williams noticeably and Lattimore if slightly. And Dennis Allen has talent to work with. Excluding Rankins, we have on defense 5 first-round picks, 3 second-round picks, and 2 third-round picks. We don't have late round picks and undrafted free agents on defense. It is time for the defense to move to an even higher level. Yes. We have a lot of talent and a lot of pedigree on our defense. We have one of the most athletic defensive rosters in the league. There is no reason we shouldn't be one of the league's best defenses this season. We also have one of deepest most talented coaching staffs in the NFL. 2017, we had talent, but we also had a lot of holes. Adding the fact that a LOT of our talent was extremely inexperienced, even with all the injuries we had, our defense played amazing. That's a credit to our coaching staff. Last season we came out flat. Or more correctly, we started the season with a GIANT hole in our secondary that QBs and OC's used like an ATM. So we add Eli Apple before the trade deadline, and voila... Our pass defense imediately improved from worst in the league to average, and steadily improved from game to game as the season progressed. It wasn't like we added a prime Revis to our defense... No it was Eli Apple, an embattled player who was considered a huge draft bust for the Giants. (who took him #10 overall when most teams and draft "guessers" had him as a 2nd or 3rd round talent). Aaron Glenn and Dennis Allen fixed our defense mid-season with a player everybody said needed fixing. That's coaching. You can have a great CB and a good CB or even 2 good CBs and still make a defense work. But when you have even one bad CB... your entire defense is going to suffer. Ken Crawley was a bad bad bad CB early on last season. No, our coaching staff isn't a question mark... not one of our coaches are anything less than awesome.

 

[sfidc3]

Biggest question to me by a long shot:

1) Can Armstead, Peat and the offensive line stay healthy and quickly gell with McCoy at C....

Followed by a distant....
2) Can our pass rush take a big leap forward with a healthy Davenport...
3) TE (Cook) and WR (other than MT) step up and make a real impact...

I think our secondary will be a strength this year....

 

[Thunderchild]

Sophomore slump [and the rest redacted for space]

These are my thoughts exactly. Very well said.

 

[OutlawSaint]

Big question: Is the league ready for the Saints?

 

[Stalwart385]

1. 4. and 6. seem to lack an actual question. Guessing you mean areas that are question marks.

The answer to 5. is, has been, and currently remains Ted Ginn. Until someone proves otherwise.

It's crazy how much Ginn gets overlooked.

2017 - 53 catches, 787 yards
2018 extrapolated to a healthy season - 54 catches, 669 yards (would be higher but I counted the 0 catch game he was injured in)

He was clearly the #2 WR in the games he was healthy. That includes games after his injury. Health hasn't been a major issue for him. He's up there in age but hasn't given us reason to be concerned yet. He just had an injury that he proved he was recovered from. Along with the addition of Cook, the concern about receiving options should be about development for the further future, not so much this year.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Excellent responses, particularly the lengthy analysis by dutar76.

After review of what has been written, two quick comments.

First, I am not as comfortable with Ginn as our number-two receiver as others are. Supposedly, at the offseason workouts, he looked especially fast and quick. But he is now 34. He was injured much of last year. And in each of last year's two playoff games, he caught only three passes; he did have the big catch at the end of regulation in the Rams game, but the Rams were intent to take Thomas out of the game, and no other wide receiver or no tight end truly stepped up. Forget about the wide-receiver designations--we need much more production from our wide receivers not named Michael Thomas. We need one of the young receivers to step up. That the team largely ignored the wide-receiver position in free agency and the draft suggests that the coaching staff likes the team's young receivers. I hope so because the lack of production by our wide receivers and tight ends in the NFC championship game cost us a trip to the Super Bowl last year.

Second, I am not as enamored by Dennis Allen as others. I think he is the best defensive coordinator we have had in some time, though that bar is not terribly high. He obviously has a good rapport with Payton. Overall, I think him a capable, middle-of-the-pack defensive coordinator, but not of the game's best coordinators. If we stay largely healthy, Allen has talent to work with on the defensive side. Let's see what he does in 2019.

 

[Bespoke]

Excellent responses, particularly the lengthy analysis by dutar76.

Second, I am not as enamored by Dennis Allen as others. I think he is the best defensive coordinator we have had in some time, though that bar is not terribly high. He obviously has a good rapport with Payton. Overall, I think him a capable, middle-of-the-pack defensive coordinator, but not of the game's best coordinators. If we stay largely healthy, Allen has talent to work with on the defensive side. Let's see what he does in 2019.

I trust Allen he doesn't have the name recognition or 'mystique' that names like Wade Phillips, Wink Martindale, Kris Richard Jim Schwartz, or Vic Fangio have but that comes with the territory of continued winning, and fielding a Defense that has a particular attitude, and swagger around them. (which this Defense has started to show over the past couple seasons)


Another major reason Allen has my trust. Is that he knows how to utilize the Saints Defensive talents to their strengths, and mix up his looks, coverages. Instead of trying to fit square pegs into round holes, like his predecessors tried to do.. Rob Ryan trying to emulate Seattle's Legion of Boom Defense with personnel that didn't fit, and Spagnuolo trying to re-create his Super Bowl winning Defense that relied on 4 strong pass rushers, when the Saints lacked in that area at the time he coached.

 

[Cougar 1]

Biggest question to me by a long shot:

1) Can Armstead, Peat and the offensive line stay healthy and quickly gell with McCoy at C....

Followed by a distant....
2) Can our pass rush take a big leap forward with a healthy Davenport...
3) TE (Cook) and WR (other than MT) step up and make a real impact...

I think our secondary will be a strength this year....

Hell, can EVERYBODY jus stay relatively healthy this year? ?

Seriously tho, my biggest question on D is with new DTs n Davenport in his 2nd year, how will the D line perform?

On O, after O line, the next biggest questions are at WR. Can we get more consistent play and production from the 2nd AND 3rd WRs? And who will they be?

IMO, a big key here is Cam Meredith. Is he FINALLY gonna be ? healthy this year? IF he is, and plays back to form, then he, MT n TG are likely your top 3. Then the youngsters can fill in for rotation and depth as needed. I’d be good with dat!