Lets talk defensive line, and some questions? (1 Viewer)

[Goatman Saint]

Romeus was an injury risk when they took him. Great potential. If he could stay healthy he had a ton of talent. Maybe this is his year. I see Hicks at end also. I'm almost wondering if Will Smith won't be backup at all 3 positions though. While I know he can't stand up to full time NT, he may be a good change up and heis bigger than what Ryan had in Dallas.

 

[duhonmark551]

With all his injury time Romeus is behind Galette and Braylon Broughton on the depth chart, plus we are surely going to draft a DE/OLB next month. He needs an exceptional camp to stay on the team, its a numbers game and I don't have much hope for him making the 53 man squad.

 

[oodank]

i believe the saints will have abt 5 or 6 guys that they will use in rotation on gamedays. its a game of matchups and rDouble` is gonna be looking to exploit matchups just as payton does on offense.

LE jordan
NT bunkley (dont forget this guys was really stout in the middle of 3-4 for denver!)
DE/3T hicks

DE smith
DE/DT johnson
NT walker/draft pick/FA

saints will depend on bunk and hicks to control that guard center guard space in the middle of the opponents OL. jordan will continue to progress and grow as a presence from the LE and will be moved around from the left to the right side.

i think the key obviously is gonna be can the FO find a pass rusher that can actually get to the QB. these guys guys are not fast athletic enough as currently constructed they need a guy that can really get there.

the one guy i really like, of the guys that will most likely be there @ 15 is the kid from a&m.... moore.

 

[TruSaint]

We ever find out if we are running the 1 or 2 gap?

 

[TruSaint]

I really hope we can sign victor butler so we can draft someone like star or sheldon Richardson but if we don't idk if I have faith in tez to start, think I'd rather just run w bunkley Jordan and hicks and draft an olb and let him and tez battle it out

 

[Cougar 1]

I really hope we can sign victor butler so we can draft someone like star or sheldon Richardson but if we don't idk if I have faith in tez to start, think I'd rather just run w bunkley Jordan and hicks and draft an olb and let him and tez battle it out

Neither am I. Like I said, this is Tez's 3rd position and his 3rd DC. The SOLB in the 3-4 has some coverage responsibilities, and coverage was one of the biggest negs on Tez comin outta college. While I feel better and more confident about Junior in the 3-4 on the weakside, he has little experience as well. And thats all we have at OLB. Signing Butler gives us experience and depth there. But we could still use another passrushing OLB, and if he's there at 15, I want im!

Recently, I think it was you that I talked to about the OT situation. Its still not lookin good right now. If we dont sign one in FA, even if we sign Butler, then we may have to look at addressing LT over D line and over that passrusher I wanted at 15. Moving up to get one, like I suggested back then, is not outta the question just yet.......

unfortunately.


Back in November, with the prospect of us retaining our 2nd rd pick, in my "dream mock", I had us takin OT Jake Matthews at 15, and a relatively unknown, raw but talented DE/OLB Ezekial Ansah in the 2nd rd.

But Jake didnt declare, Ansah is so well known now, EVERYBODY calls him "Ziggy", and we didnt get our 2nd rd pick back.

Oh well.



The players names will change, but the NEED is STILL there:


"If you ask me what keeps me up at night, there would be two areas: how are we going to improve our pass rush and how are we going to be at left tackle?"

Sean Payton




We'll see.

 

[TruSaint]

Neither am I. Like I said, this is Tez's 3rd position and his 3rd DC. The SOLB in the 3-4 has some coverage responsibilities, and coverage was one of the biggest negs on Tez comin outta college. While I feel better and more confident about Junior in the 3-4 on the weakside, he has little experience as well. And thats all we have at OLB. Signing Butler gives us experience and depth there. But we could still use another passrushing OLB, and if he's there at 15, I want im!

Recently, I think it was you that I talked to about the OT situation. Its still not lookin good right now. If we dont sign one in FA, even if we sign Butler, then we may have to look at addressing LT over D line and over that passrusher I wanted at 15. Moving up to get one, like I suggested back then, is not outta the question just yet.......

unfortunately.


Back in November, with the prospect of us retaining our 2nd rd pick, in my "dream mock", I had us takin OT Jake Matthews at 15, and a relatively unknown, raw but talented DE/OLB Ezekial Ansah in the 2nd rd.

But Jake didnt declare, Ansah is so well known now, EVERYBODY calls him "Ziggy", and we didnt get our 2nd rd pick back.

Oh well.



The players names will change, but the NEED is STILL there:


"If you ask me what keeps me up at night, there would be two areas: how are we going to improve our pass rush and how are we going to be at left tackle?"

Sean Payton




We'll see.

Ya well I think gallette saw limited playing time because of his size but he is a pure finesse pass rusher, he needs to be out in space since his spin and rip move are so nice, i fully expect gallette to have 10 sacks this year, i am very confident that he will do fine, the 3-4 switch is perfect for him, however i think we draft 3-4 solb, 3-4 DE and a LT in the draft. dion jordan, akeem spence, chris faulk would be great

 

[Rugger]

Neither am I. Like I said, this is Tez's 3rd position and his 3rd DC. The SOLB in the 3-4 has some coverage responsibilities, and coverage was one of the biggest negs on Tez comin outta college. While I feel better and more confident about Junior in the 3-4 on the weakside, he has little experience as well. And thats all we have at OLB. Signing Butler gives us experience and depth there. But we could still use another passrushing OLB, and if he's there at 15, I want im!

Recently, I think it was you that I talked to about the OT situation. Its still not lookin good right now. If we dont sign one in FA, even if we sign Butler, then we may have to look at addressing LT over D line and over that passrusher I wanted at 15. Moving up to get one, like I suggested back then, is not outta the question just yet.......

unfortunately.


Back in November, with the prospect of us retaining our 2nd rd pick, in my "dream mock", I had us takin OT Jake Matthews at 15, and a relatively unknown, raw but talented DE/OLB Ezekial Ansah in the 2nd rd.

But Jake didnt declare, Ansah is so well known now, EVERYBODY calls him "Ziggy", and we didnt get our 2nd rd pick back.

Oh well.



The players names will change, but the NEED is STILL there:


"If you ask me what keeps me up at night, there would be two areas: how are we going to improve our pass rush and how are we going to be at left tackle?"

Sean Payton




We'll see.

We have more depth at OLBer than people seem to realize. Vilma Hawthorne and Chamberlain could all play OLBer if they were needed. That is not to say that butler would not be a nice signing for us or that we could get a good OLBer at 15, but we have some flexibility on our roster. The problem is we have a lot of inexperience with our projected starters and I too worry about Tez in coverage and his ability to quickly read and react to a play. IMO SOLBer is the hardest LBer position to play and the toughest to find a good one.

I am really not worried about LT. I think people are conditioned to believing it is the most important position on the line. For many teams it probably is, but those teams do not have Drew Brees and I would make the case that it is fourth in importance for us behind our guards and center. It is a worry for us fans because it is an unknown. We do not know how Harris or Brown are looking in rehab. We do not know what FAs we are talking to. However we have made a very very very average Bushrod look good enough to go to two probowls. We now have Ben Watson who gives us more leeway to plug-in a mid round rookie with potential like a Chris Faulk or sign a second tier vet to fill in for a year or two because Ben Watson is a very versatile TE with above average blocking ability.

 

[TruSaint]

We have more depth at OLBer than people seem to realize. Vilma Hawthorne and Chamberlain could all play OLBer if they were needed. That is not to say that butler would not be a nice signing for us or that we could get a good OLBer at 15, but we have some flexibility on our roster. The problem is we have a lot of inexperience with our projected starters and I too worry about Tez in coverage and his ability to quickly read and react to a play. IMO SOLBer is the hardest LBer position to play and the toughest to find a good one.

I am really not worried about LT. I think people are conditioned to believing it is the most important position on the line. For many teams it probably is, but those teams do not have Drew Brees and I would make the case that it is fourth in importance for us behind our guards and center. It is a worry for us fans because it is an unknown. We do not know how Harris or Brown are looking in rehab. We do not know what FAs we are talking to. However we have made a very very very average Bushrod look good enough to go to two probowls. We now have Ben Watson who gives us more leeway to plug-in a mid round rookie with potential like a Chris Faulk or sign a second tier vet to fill in for a year or two because Ben Watson is a very versatile TE with above average blocking ability.

in an aggresive 3-4 like rob ryan likes to run most of the time he will pass rush both olbs basically making it a 5-2 formation, neither vilma, hawthorne, or chamberlain can rush the passer, we definitely will be drafting an olb in the draft.

 

[Rugger]

in an aggresive 3-4 like rob ryan likes to run most of the time he will pass rush both olbs basically making it a 5-2 formation, neither vilma, hawthorne, or chamberlain can rush the passer, we definitely will be drafting an olb in the draft.

I did not say it was ideal, but all three can fill in at OLBer. Both Vilma and Hawthorne rushed the passer as OLBers last year. Rob Ryan is going to try to create situations where someone is going to come at the QB unblocked. All three can do that. Again I am not advocating any of them starting at OLBer, but they are versatile enough to fill in if needed. Also I didn't say we would not take a OLBer at 15 or that we would not like to sign a guy like Bulter for legitimate depth on the outside.

Our SOLBer is going to have to cover TEs. In some situations there is no way around it. Are you trying to argue for the sake of arguing?

 

[TruSaint]

I did not say it was ideal, but all three can fill in at OLBer. Both Vilma and Hawthorne rushed the passer as OLBers last year. Rob Ryan is going to try to create situations where someone is going to come at the QB unblocked. All three can do that. Again I am not advocating any of them starting at OLBer, but they are versatile enough to fill in if needed. Also I didn't say we would not take a OLBer at 15 or that we would not like to sign a guy like Bulter for legitimate depth on the outside.

Our SOLBer is going to have to cover TEs. In some situations there is no way around it. Are you trying to argue for the sake of arguing?

Am i trying to argue for the sake of arguing? No in a 3-4, especialy a 1 gap ur SOLB will be blitzing a ton and ussualy ur MLB will cover the TE while the other covers the RB, while he might have have sent vilma and hawthorne on blitzes after the qb blitzing and rushing the passer are 2 different things, unless vilma or hawthorne come unblocked they will apply no pass rush since they have zero experience and zero pass rush moves, u need both OLB's in a 3-4 to ussualy be a OLB/DE tweener who has a decent aresenal of pass rush moves, people u named are strictly 100% 4-3 linebackers, are u sure ur not arguing just to argue? Im making a valid point, and while sure he could put vilma or one of them at OLB, just because he does it doesnt mean its a good move, it would be terrible

 

[Cougar 1]

Ya well I think gallette saw limited playing time because of his size but he is a pure finesse pass rusher, he needs to be out in space since his spin and rip move are so nice, i fully expect gallette to have 10 sacks this year, i am very confident that he will do fine, the 3-4 switch is perfect for him, however i think we draft 3-4 solb, 3-4 DE and a LT in the draft. dion jordan, akeem spence, chris faulk would be great

I think we pretty much agree. Heck, if Spags played him more over Smith in obvious passing situations, Junior mighta had 8-10 sacks last year (he also missed about 4 wks due to injury)! I also said Junior was inexperienced at WOLB, not that he couldnt play it, so like you, I feel good about him moving there. Its Tez, and the SOLB spot, that Im much more concerned about. Sign Butler, I'd take Jones over Jordan. W/o Butler, Id take Jordan over Jones.


Not sure about Spence, but Im very good with Faulk in the 4th.

 

[Rugger]

Am i trying to argue for the sake of arguing? No in a 3-4, especialy a 1 gap ur SOLB will be blitzing a ton and ussualy ur MLB will cover the TE while the other covers the RB, while he might have have sent vilma and hawthorne on blitzes after the qb blitzing and rushing the passer are 2 different things, unless vilma or hawthorne come unblocked they will apply no pass rush since they have zero experience and zero pass rush moves, u need both OLB's in a 3-4 to ussualy be a OLB/DE tweener who has a decent aresenal of pass rush moves, people u named are strictly 100% 4-3 linebackers, are u sure ur not arguing just to argue? Im making a valid point, and while sure he could put vilma or one of them at OLB, just because he does it doesnt mean its a good move, it would be terrible

That must have come off worse than I intended. It was not meant to be as snarky as it must have read. I do not think we are really far off in what we are saying, but I am too tired to hash things out tonight, so maybe we will pick it up tomorrow...or not. Suffice to say that I too think OLBer is still a concern and I do not think we are done addressing it.

 

[Cougar 1]

Am i trying to argue for the sake of arguing? No in a 3-4, especialy a 1 gap ur SOLB will be blitzing a ton and ussualy ur MLB will cover the TE while the other covers the RB, while he might have have sent vilma and hawthorne on blitzes after the qb blitzing and rushing the passer are 2 different things, unless vilma or hawthorne come unblocked they will apply no pass rush since they have zero experience and zero pass rush moves, u need both OLB's in a 3-4 to ussualy be a OLB/DE tweener who has a decent aresenal of pass rush moves, people u named are strictly 100% 4-3 linebackers, are u sure ur not arguing just to argue? Im making a valid point, and while sure he could put vilma or one of them at OLB, just because he does it doesnt mean its a good move, it would be terrible

This is what I was expecting Tru. Some folks dont understand that OLB in the 3-4 requires a different skillset. They think you can put ANYBODY there.

Even IF we signed Butler, I still think we had to draft an OLB in the draft, but if we dont sign Butler, dont be surprised if we still end up signing another vet OLB in FA.

 

[TruSaint]

That must have come off worse than I intended. It was not meant to be as snarky as it must have read. I do not think we are really far off in what we are saying, but I am too tired to hash things out tonight, so maybe we will pick it up tomorrow...or not. Suffice to say that I too think OLBer is still a concern and I do not think we are done addressing it.

Oh ya man its all good, sorry if i came across in the wrong way also. And I agree i def think we will address it in the draft.