Eli Apple met with Saints. (1 Viewer)

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St. Widge said:
I thought he was older, but I guess I was wrong. I may have been thinking about how old he will be when he would get his first start if Brees retires after this year. Anyway, he still has a lot of wear a tear on his body from taking hits as read option QB and at receiver. Plus, at best, he will get his first shot a being a full time starting QB at age 31. (He'll be 30 in August of this year and turn 31 in camp next year.)

I can't think of any other successful QBs that were that old when they got their first shot. Which, of course, doesn't mean he can't do it, but it does mean the odds are a bit against him and it's clear he is going to have to improve his accuracy before he would really be a guy you want as your starting QB.

Anyway, I could be wrong, but I think he is so much more valuable to this team as a guy that plays multiple positions and can be used as a change of pace QB to run trick plays, read options, and possibly RPOs. When he is on the field he attracts attention away from Thomas and Kamara because he so often is the focus of the play when he is on the field.
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Who cares if he's 31 when he gets his first start? That's typically prime years for quarterbacks. He'd just have a shorter career than most. He started college a few years later than most because of his Mormon mission.

As to injuries, I don't think he's even been listed on an injury report as a Saint and that's while taking hits at a plethora of positions. He acknowledged that as a QB he'd have to slide and go out of bounds more to avoid injury.

I'm just going to trust Payton on what he sees in his QBs. If he sees him as a starting QB and not just a gadget player, then that's what he'll be.

Anyway, let's get this thread back on the topic of Eli Apple.
 
Swimmer said:
Guido - great point. When Pete told me that if the Saints got Burrow, SP was not afraid to begin a rebuild, it made me wonder why? So I looked at the UAs and RFAa we have this year and next. 17 of 22 starters and 9 key rotational players and little cap with much dead money being pushed forward. BayArea Saint and LC did some excellent work on how to keep the team together for one more year, which seems plausible from their superb work. But it includes somethings like letting Peat, Klein and Alonzo, Apple or maybe Jenkins walk. As you say, the replacement players for these are not hanging out at Salvation Army. They would be expensive. Even if we replace the lost players' skill levels, one of the key factors that has made this team regular season great over the last 2 years is depth. "One down, next man up." If we let 3-4 starters walk, we are going to suffer in the quality of our depth.
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I hear drafting decent players is a great way to build/maintain depth. Maybe that's why you shouldn't be so hot to dream up scenarios of trading them all away? ?
 
insidejob said:
Who cares if he's 31 when he gets his first start? That's typically prime years for quarterbacks. He'd just have a shorter career than most. He started college a few years later than most because of his Mormon mission.

As to injuries, I don't think he's even been listed on an injury report as a Saint and that's while taking hits at a plethora of positions. He acknowledged that as a QB he'd have to slide and go out of bounds more to avoid injury.

I'm just going to trust Payton on what he sees in his QBs. If he sees him as a starting QB and not just a gadget player, then that's what he'll be.

Anyway, let's get this thread back on the topic of Eli Apple.
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I'm not saying he has been injured, but taking those hits takes a toll on the body. It's the reason RBs and WRs have shorter careers than QBs. And, the age is relevant because he hasn't played much QB since college and has been cross-training at a number of positions. He would be several years behind other QBs that are 30 or 31 in terms of game experience at QB and he still doesn't appear to have improved his accuracy to the point that it needs to be to be an NFL QB. Time is running short to do that because of his age. He's going to essentially be starting to gain experience as a starting NFL QB at age 31 and it's going to take him a few years to gain the experience necessary to really run a complex NFL offense.

I trust Payton too and if he thinks he's the guy I'm good with it, but I'm not convinced he is 100% committed to turning the reigns over to Hill since he did start Bridgewater over him while Brees was out and he has only let Hill throw 13 passes while he's been in games.
 
Optimistic Ozzy said:
Yeah, at this point Brandon Browner may be better than Apple.
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That is absolutely not true.

Apple wasn't the same after being injured last season. He played well up until the 4 game stretch against NFC South teams. During those 4 games, the refs straight up murdered us. I'll leave the conspiracy talk out of this, but that's when Apple was at his worst. Getting repeatedly flagged for good coverage can definitely have an adverse effect on confidence. Confidence is to a CB what gas is to a sports car.

Not saying that Apple is the answer, but there is something to be said for continuity. 2020 will be the 4th year that Williams, Bell, Williams, and Lattimore have played together. And the 2nd full season with Apple and Chauncey... IF we were to keep them all. Just from a communication stand-point, keeping the band together has it's benefits. Adding a guy with a name and high-level past performance might work or it might not. Janoris Jenkins is that guy. But he turns 32 during the 2020 season. He will either start regressing physically or completely fall off a cliff at some point. 2020? 2021? That along with the period of communication breakdowns until the secondary gels has to be considered. Now Janoris is a savvy old vet, that gelling process might not take long, or it might have already happened in his few weeks with the team.

If it comes down to cost, I think Apple might be a little cheaper than the 11 million owed to Jenkins. I say might because we've seen middling young CB's get overpaid before. In fact, it's very common. A multi-year deal would give us the same cap flexibility this year as re-structuring Jack-rabbit's contract. So it's almost a wash there. So I think the question is how our coaches feel about Apple and his performance. If they believe that his struggles can be explained and corrected, (and we can afford him), then they will almost certainly decide to keep him over Jenkins. The reason for that is because IF they are proven right, then our CB#2 situation will be solved for the 3 or 4 years of his contract. We fans have no real clue how the coaches feel about the players until an offer is made. The length and amount will answer that question.
 
SpeckKillerII said:
Just get some DB’s that will stop the bomb, hail Mary’s and also stop the opponent from picking up the long 3rd down passes. You know, when it’s 3rd and 25 and we give up 26 every time.
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Hey, hey. That is the Saints way. LOL. Can't change the culture.
 
I'm sure we've seen enough of him when he's healthy to warrant a discussion about his coming back. While I'd like to think Jenkins might be a better bet, nothing is guaranteed, and a healthy Eli Apple is better than anybody who's going to walk in off the street.

Nobody wants a decent but not great player back until they are forced to see what the alternative looks like.
 
I am not at all opposed to bringing Eli back on defense. The huge question, however, is how much would he cost and that is where I am concerned that he will want much higher than we would want to pay! If we can get him on a prove it deal for this year than I do not believe we lose anything in signing him as he knows the defense, clearly has some upside and is still young. Should be an interesting couple of months watching how things shake out with our FA's.
 
I dunno what happened for him to fall off that cliff before the injury (the 9er game was particularly bad) but he still has plenty of baller in him

Let’s plead with momma Apple to feed that man some Chunky soup n re-sign him to a friendly deal. Restructure Jackrabbit too. Nothing is ever wrong with having 3 starting caliber CBs on ur roster
 

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