Saints Sign Ex-Browns LB Craig Robertson, 3 year deal (merged) (2 Viewers)

[LombardiGras]

Man im excited about this, robertson truly is a stud in coverage and as an open field tackler. He also has hands like a tight end and can snag some passes.

If you are right about him, then he's a natural fit to compete at WLB

 

[Igordão]

I don't know much about him. Is he really good in coverage? Saw some browns fans commenting he was a liability in coverage.

 

[trux]

EJW, TruSaint and others. With regards to the 4-3/3-4 discussion, how do you feel this draft lines up in terms of good SOLB prospects? I ask because as has been pointed out before by EJW and others, we try to fill our needs in FA so we're free to take BPA, however, due to cap constraints (we still need $ to sign the rookies), there may be more holes to fill than we can afford, i.e., 3-tech.

It's usually pretty easy (and cheap) to find 2-down run stuffers at DT/NT later in the draft and FA (unless they're elite like Damon Harrison). They may not put much pressure on the QB, but with Jordan and Kika/Tull/Gwachum and improved LB's behind them, those easy passes to the flat may take that half a second longer that allows our second effort guys (Kika/Jordan) the opportunity to take them down. If we go 3-4, I think Lawson would be a perfect bookend to Cam with Jenkins/Davison in the middle. But if going 4-3, I think Bullard is the better fit because he has experience kicking inside from DE which I don't think Clemson's defense required Lawson to do (they had enough solid players next to him). Actually, it seems like DJ Reader would be a perfect late round DT/NT to fill that role in a 3-4.

What are people's opinions about Jihad Ward? For some reason I just have a feeling with his Illinois connection Sean Payton will draft this guy.

 

[St.Stephen]

Looking almost certain we are going for a 3-4 now.

Not hardly.

Allen is partial to a 4-3, we're upgrading linebackers/depth in general, nothing more or less.

 

[GunnerSaint]

It's usually pretty easy (and cheap) to find 2-down run stuffers at DT/NT later in the draft and FA (unless they're elite like Damon Harrison). They may not put much pressure on the QB, but with Jordan and Kika/Tull/Gwachum and improved LB's behind them, those easy passes to the flat may take that half a second longer that allows our second effort guys (Kika/Jordan) the opportunity to take them down. If we go 3-4, I think Lawson would be a perfect bookend to Cam with Jenkins/Davison in the middle. But if going 4-3, I think Bullard is the better fit because he has experience kicking inside from DE which I don't think Clemson's defense required Lawson to do (they had enough solid players next to him). Actually, it seems like DJ Reader would be a perfect late round DT/NT to fill that role in a 3-4.

Are you saying you think Lawson is the better fit as a 3-4 DE, whereas Bullard is the better fit as a 4-3 DE? Because I (and most people I imagine) would argue the opposite is true.

 

[JackDiesel]

Once again, this screams traditional 4-3 to me, all of these linebackers are sideline to sideline guys, and not edge rushers. What this tells me is that we MUST sign or draft an elite 3-tech. In a 4-3 u need a 3-tech who isn't just a pass rusher, but also good vs the run and can eat blocks to keep ur linebackers clean to make plays.

Nick Fairley is a perfect fit for this. And if he isn't signed, I could see us easily taking Billings.

Didn't Roberston just come from Cleveland's 3-4 defense? He's a backup WILB and big time nickel linebacker to me. We are collecting linebackers like it's our only job this offseason, if you're talking about getting the best players on the field at the same time we are still a 3-4 defense. It was Payton's vision, it's what our last several drafts have been geared to and Allen is flexible enough to run it.

Just look at all our pre-draft visits. So far they have met with Bosa, Lawson, Dodd, Jenkins, Ngakoue, and Spence. While some are scheme versatile I think Jenkins, Ngakoue and Spence profile best as 3-4 OLB's. I'd also add Tull to that list. We've met with one 3-4 DE and so far zero guys that profile as a 3-tech. Fairley would be nice to have for scheme flexibility but he's not a MUST sign.

 

[super_wolf]

WHAT YOU GOT CRAIG??

 

[natedog]

Naw, that is no excuse. I've been around since the very first pre-season game up in Shreveport (then called an exhibition game) and am actually positive most of the time. The contrast with what we had then vs what we have now makes me grateful and optimistic for the most part.

So, I kinda think it is just the opposite with us old farts.

OTOH, some folks just have to be negative to show others how much they know and how stupid optimistic fans are.

I don't see it as being negative so much, as it is the constant expression of the disappointment they have with how poor we have been at bringing the right players in. Especially on defense, every year we bring in no name guys, or guys that are getting long in the tooth, bargain bin guys. But that is the way it is going to be until Drew moves on, this is the way it is with most teams with expensive quarterbacks unless they did really well drafting their own players, which we haven't. Combine that with the Jimmydonna fiasco and the Gallette implosion and we are lucky to be 7-9 every year.

I like the Robertson signing, we need to take the shotgun approach. We need to sign a bunch of decent players and hope a couple work out. If you consider how many bargains we seem to pick up it makes this even more true due to the injuries they seem to incur. Is this the best way for things to work ? . . of course not, I don't love it either, but I do understand the way it is and the place this franchise is currently in. Would we all love to have a FO and ownership like the Patriots ? . . .of course we would, going to the Super Bowl every other year, heck yeah.

I guess the point is, let's try not to bash the FO so much when we all know the reasons for not having a boatload of FA monies to spend on new toys.

 

[lildyce504]

First signing of the offseason that I like!

 

[SweetT]

Not hardly.

Allen is partial to a 4-3, we're upgrading linebackers/depth in general, nothing more or less.

No, it will be a 3-4
When SP was suspended, he came back with the vision of running a 3-4
He got it for a short period of time, but now he's going to install it for the foreseeable future

 

[trux]

Gunnersaint, I'm saying what you're saying but it didn't come across that way. Lawson doesn't have the weight/length that Bullard has to play 3-4 DE (he's about 15-20lbs lighter and 1" shorter arms). I think DT is where we need to focus our attention to in the draft with the abundance of possible pass-rushers at DE/OLB later in later rounds. Reading Ioannidis' profile on the NFL site makes me want to pair him next to Davison with Jordan and Kika on either side. You'd have two really stout DT's that would prevent the QB from stepping up into the pocket and possibly allowing the MLB/ILB to shoot the A gap as Cam/Kika provide outside pressure. An OLB like Alex McCalister or Stephen Weatherly in the later rounds would be great.

 

[CanuckSaint]

I haven't seen this posted, but here is the PFF grades for Robertson:

Overall: 65.3
Run: 80.8
Coverage: 84.3
Pass rush: 43.4
Snap count: 389

By comparison, Danny Trevathan:

Overall: 87.5
Run: 37.3
Coverage: 81.3
Pass rush: 51.3
Snap count: 849

Not bad company to be in.

 

[bclemms]

Like this signing but still hope we address LB in the draft.

 

[RaisingTheBar]

Like this signing but still hope we address LB in the draft.

We might, it just likely won't be at #12 overall now.

 

[RaisingTheBar]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/TheSaintsBeat">@TheSaintsBeat</a> it&#39;s still a 4-3</p>&mdash; Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) <a href="https://twitter.com/nick_underhill/status/712621256491708417">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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