Free Agent Targets: Mike Wallace and Keenan Lewis? (1 Viewer)

[St. Widge]

Nakia Hogan has suggested Mike Wallace and Kennan Lewis as possible free agent targets if we can clear some cap space. I think he mostly looked at them because they both went to O.P. Walker in New Orleans, but these two guys do seem to fit areas of need, namely a solid #2 receiver with speed to put on the field with Colston and an upgrade at CB who has played in a blitz heavy defense. They also names that I don't recall really being mentioned on this board as possible targets so I wonder if Hogan got some hints about them or it it's pure speculation. Both may be a bit too expensive, but they would both be upgrades.

Should the New Orleans Saints sign native sons WR Mike Wallace, CB Keenan Lewis in free agency? | NOLA.com

 

[Pdlc]

Mike Wallace will command way too much (I'm sure the next 10 posters will say the same) and I don't see us clearing that much cap space and spending it on a WR. Keenan is a possibility.

 

[St. Widge]

Mike Wallace will command way too much (I'm sure the next 10 posters will say the same) and I don't see us clearing that much cap space and spending it on a WR. Keenan is a possibility.

I tend to agree, but this front office has surprised before by spending money when it didn't seem they had enough room under the cap and there are ways to structure salaries with big bonuses that would allow a guy like Wallace to sign under the cap. Loomis did it with Lofton, Hawthorne and Bunkley last year when nobody thought we had the money to do much of anything. And our two receiver set sure would look a lot better with Wallace and Colston. Plus, with Wallace's speed and deep threat, he could really open up the middle for Jimmy Graham. Maybe Joe Morgan starts to get that kind of attention at some point, but he isn't there now.

 

[Proximo]

Don't want Wallace. Selfish and his former teammates have been ripping him as much; been saying this for awhile now. His skill isn't going to be equivalent to the money he is offered either.

 

[LSSpam]

Why does everyone keep mentioning Keenan Lewis? "The steelers blitz and run the 3-4!!!!11" The Steelers zone-blitz out of a different front 7 alignment that has nothing to do with the CB anyways from what Ryan will use. The operative, important word is zone.

Keenan Lewis may be a fine CB who would excel for us, I honestly don't know, but "Lolz the steelers play the 3-4!!!" has as much predictive power as "Jason David played the 4-3 with the colts!!!!"

 

[St. Widge]

Why does everyone keep mentioning Keenan Lewis? "The steelers blitz and run the 3-4!!!!11" The Steelers zone-blitz out of a different front 7 alignment that has nothing to do with the CB anyways from what Ryan will use. The operative, important word is zone.

Keenan Lewis may be a fine CB who would excel for us, I honestly don't know, but "Lolz the steelers play the 3-4!!!" has as much predictive power as "Jason David played the 4-3 with the colts!!!!"

You know more about the nuts and bolts of the game than I do so I'll ask, doesn't Ryan also play some zone and wasn't that one of the criticisms of him coming from Dallas, that he played too much zone last year?

And, assuming Ryan does play mostly either press or man off coverage, how would Lewis fit that scheme? Does he have the speed, hip turn and ball skills to play in one or both of those schemes?

 

[LSSpam]

You know more about the nuts and bolts of the game than I do so I'll ask, doesn't Ryan also play some zone and wasn't that one of the criticisms of him coming from Dallas, that he played too much zone last year?

And, assuming Ryan does play mostly either press or man off coverage, how would Lewis fit that scheme? Does he have the speed, hip turn and ball skills to play in one or both of those schemes?

That's actually a long answer. The short response is "everyone plays everything in the NFL at some point". Every team will blitz, do zone underneath, zone over the top, zone blitz,press, man underneath, not blitz, stunt, slant, etc etc at some point. It's just certain coaches have preference for certain styles. They emphasize and use certain techniques and aspects more than others and select players accordingly.

Dick LeBeau and the Pittsburgh defense he's designed is most known for zone-blitz schemes. They put a lot of emphasis on masking blitzes with their front 7 and using complicated zones behind it, the idea being to slow the opposing teams QB enough that he's forced to make a bad decision or get sacked.

In this regard, their CBs tend to be more facing-the-QB style zone guys then turn-and-run. This doesn't preclude Keenan Allen from being a good man cover corner, it just means his association with Pittsburgh does not suggest he would be. One 3-4 is not the same as all 3-4s.


My understanding of what Ryan will be doing here, which may be wrong but I think it's accurate, is some variant of the bum Phillips 3-4 that as in Dallas prior to Ryan's arrival (and that he somewhat kept up) and in Houston now. This puts an emphasis on off-Los (as opposed to pressing like Seattle does) man coverage, usually with a single high safety that's really deep. You might press on one side to roll the safety to the other, but that requires an elite CB.

In other words, the secondary actually could conceptually be simi'iar to what we did in 2011 GWs last year, when Jenkins was 20 yards deep every play.

No, I doubt Ryan was criticized for using "too much zone" in Dallas or elsewhere,

 

[Joodas Avila]

I dont think we can afford, or really need Mike Wallace. But Keenan Lewis is nice! That guy can really play and could challenge for a starting spot out the gate. That would be a slick pick up for us.

 

[Saint Droopy]

Looks like he's only speculating because they're homies... would be nice to bring them home (Ed Reed too) but it would take 2 miracles to sign any combination these dudes.

 

[uptbigdawg]

Yeah sign Mike Wallace for big money and there's no affording Jimmy Graham after that.....no thanks. I would be OK going after Lewis, but Wallace would cost way too much.

 

[Fleur de Lies]

Wallace is overrated. He's been on a streak of dropping the ball and is too selfish for our locker room. He'll ask for too much money and can't do anything that Joseph Morgan can't.

 

[scrummy mustard]

Don't want Wallace. Selfish and his former teammates have been ripping him as much; been saying this for awhile now. His skill isn't going to be equivalent to the money he is offered either.

I'm not sure about the selfish part, but he is going to be way overpaid by someone, and it will not be us (At least it better not be).

We have Morgan who started to play well last year who will cost about 5% of what Wallace is going to get, especially after the Chiefs massively overpaid for Bowe.

 

[jpsoldier24]

If we could find the money I would sign Wallace in a heartbeat I'm not sure where all these talk about him not being a good teammate when he was at ole miss he was the ultimate team player kinda shocked but I would love to have him

 

[LSSpam]

If we could find the money I would sign Wallace in a heartbeat I'm not sure where all these talk about him not being a good teammate when he was at ole miss he was the ultimate team player kinda shocked but I would love to have him

It's not so much that he's a good or bad teammate I don't think. At least, I haven't seen anything indicating either/or. But any time a player talks a lot about money and threatens "hold out" the bad teammate wrap gets thrown about.

It's a similar situation to where Greg Jennings was with the Packers, where Wallace mid-level draft status made him grossly underpaid the first few years and now he wants to make that money back up with a giant contract. That meant grumbling about RFA and such, but you can't blame a player for wanting to be paid as much as he can. Jennings similar got called out for being a "bad" teammate, even though that's clearly not the case.

We're fixing to face the exact same situation with Jimmy Graham, so glass houses, stones, and such.

 

[Bayareasaint]

Can Wallace play defense? I'm losing patience with the we need a wide receiver thinking which seems common on this site. Did we not make the playoffs because of our wideouts?

I seem to remember setting the all time worse...hmmmm. Can't remember...oh yeah defense. Great wide receivers are a luxury not a necessity. Oh yeah, and there expensive. We will also not have much cap space. Also, we need a LT or we won't have a QB to throw the ball to your $50M man.