(Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
By Luke Johnson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Nope, no way, this was just not going to do — Sheldon Rankins is a disruptor, a difference maker, and his sophomore season with the New Orleans Saints was spent doing not enough disrupting and difference-making.
It is not like he was bad last year. The Saints defense enjoyed a bit of a resurrection, and there was Rankins in the middle of it all, starting all 16 games and playing 76 percent of the snaps, more than all but three New Orleans defenders. He was a solid, dependable player on a playoff team.
And yet …
There was that inner monologue telling him he was so much more than a two-sack, 26-tackle cog in the machine. His performance in the playoffs last season — 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, essentially cramming half of his regular season production into two games — all but assured what was in store for his next several months.
“From that point on, I told myself, ‘That’s the standard,’” Rankins said. “It led into the offseason.” ...
Full Story - NOLA.com
