Stephone Anthony (1 Viewer)

[Goatman Saint]

First who else was there last year? Now to your second point. As has been stated. He hasn't been healthy that's part of it. I also get the feeling Anthony is one of those great athletes who hasn't really learned the mental part of the game. The saints are seemingly doing a reality check with him. Sit and learn. You need to remember he was physically the most gifted linebacker in that draft. He was also a guy that had been benched once for seemingly the same thing only to come back a changed guy. Maybe the coaching staff is doing what worked last time. He's a boom or bust guy. In 2 years either pro bowl or on the street.


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[porculator]

Payton shouldn't have never tinkered with the 2013 defense.

???

Here were the best players of that defense:

Galette- did the opposite of tinker by signing him long term
Keenan Lewis- ditto
Cam Jordan- ditto
J Greer- career ending injury

In retrospect obviously we should have kept Jenkins instead of signing Byrd, but that was clear to nobody at the time.

Otherwise, you're saying we should have kept the likes of Vilma, Smith, Hawthorne, Corey White, Harper, into 2014? And we wouldn't have sucked?

 

[duckjr78]

???

Here were the best players of that defense:

Galette- did the opposite of tinker by signing him long term
Keenan Lewis- ditto
Cam Jordan- ditto
J Greer- career ending injury

In retrospect obviously we should have kept Jenkins instead of signing Byrd, but that was clear to nobody at the time.

Otherwise, you're saying we should have kept the likes of Vilma, Smith, Hawthorne, Corey White, Harper, into 2014? And we wouldn't have sucked?

Great post.

Looking at it through this lens really shows how much buzzard's luck the Saints have had to go along with a fairly normal pass/fail rate on free agents and draft picks.

Greer, Galette, and Lewis all disappearing due to somewhat different circumstances hamstrung the heck outta this D.

 

[Sumdude34]

Anthony got his opportunity in the ATL game. He wasted it. He was a massive liability. Never in position and just constantly getting in other guys' way. He puts up good stats, but they come at the expense of the team. He's just like Laurinitus. You can't afford to put them on the field. They put him in on only goaline snaps aginst CAR and he still managed to leave a TE wide open in the end zone for a TD. Allen hasn't been great as a DC this year, but Anthony and Laurinitus being garbage this year is not his fault.

 

[LetsGetWaffles]

I have faith that Anthony will develop, but i still weish we had taken Kendricks from UCLA w that pick instead of ANthony. Kendricks is more athletic and better in coverage and is doing very well for the Vikings, and I felt like his skillset was better suited for our needs than ANthony. It probably doesnt hurt him that the Vikings have a lot of talent all over their D tho. Anthony is our guy for now tho, so I only hope for the best.

 

[kcirdor]

I can list a 100 names of LBs who took a couple of years to develop before they turned into pro bowl level players.

I'm calling bull ****...


*Ring Ring*

Hello, this is bull ****. How may I help you?

Please name 100 Linebackers that took a couple of years to develop into pro bowl caliber players.

 

[LombardiGras]

First who else was there last year?

So basically you are saying the front office failed to create a defense with talented players, and because we didn't have anyone else that led to the mismanagement of Anthony's development thus far? Ok then I agree, but its not a very good excuse.

Now to your second point. As has been stated. He hasn't been healthy that's part of it. I also get the feeling Anthony is one of those great athletes who hasn't really learned the mental part of the game. The saints are seemingly doing a reality check with him. Sit and learn. You need to remember he was physically the most gifted linebacker in that draft. He was also a guy that had been benched once for seemingly the same thing only to come back a changed guy. Maybe the coaching staff is doing what worked last time. He's a boom or bust guy. In 2 years either pro bowl or on the street.

I don't think Anthony's struggles are because he is injured. From my layman's perspective, it looks like he is not efficient with what he does. He has the physical ability but what we haven't seen are good instincts, decision making, ability to diagnose plays. Moving him around and throwing too much at him have likely contributed to his setbacks in understanding the game.

 

[slaym]

Maybe the coaches need to dumb it down some. I mean you have our Stanford graduate TE having problems with the plays. I am sure it spills over on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[outvoted]

This has some validity too it too. With that being said Robertsons play in the middle (ILB has been the least of our problems) allowing him to come along slowly and cross-train at MLB is the right thing to do. Sam LB(unless a hybrid pass-rusher or really good in coverage)is such a small role in today's NFL(and two things he's not) that his snaps would have been diminished anyhow. I do agree that he may be in a funk but I think going into next year we need to know if he can man the middle and I expect him to be the starter their by the time week 17 rolls around. At some point..it's only logical otherwise yeah it would be a wasted pick as he isn't a WLB candidate.

Patience though...I think they are just grooming him. He was kind of thrust in last year because we got rid of lofton and needed a Mike but I really think he was in over his head.

My biggest fear of them "grooming him", is that they end up letting him walk somewhere else, and he turns into another ex-Saint we wish we still had.

Many folks, I am guessing because of our defensive woes, forget that he is only in his second year, and his move may be effecting him more than we all hoped.
I was expecting a lot more as well, so I am also disappointed, however I am also trying to keep it in my mind that we are playing with a quilt work of a defense

 

[MJ in Calif]

Stephone Anthony is the perfect example of what is wrong with the Saints Defense. Investing a 1st round pick, have him play well in 2015, & now he is on the flippin bench!!!

What the hell did he do to lose the job on the field? This was decided in the off season by DA.

Dennis Allen has shown nothing so far & his demotion of Stephone is questionable at best.

Dennis Allen's defense is the WORST IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL.

Pathetic that we even debate this mess of a D like there is some hidden progress or something.

Just another glaring example of Payton's decisions on that side of the ball. Horrible draft picks, very questionable FA signings, and then the DC hires. It is going to be his undoing.

 

[MJ in Calif]

Whats even worse with the Anthony pick is that this is the pick we got for the Graham trade. So Payton trades one of the best TEs in the game for a center and a 1st round pick and he goes with Anthony. Again, bad, just plain bad decisions. I truly feel this will lead to his undoing in NO.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

My biggest fear of them "grooming him", is that they end up letting him walk somewhere else, and he turns into another ex-Saint we wish we still had.

Many folks, I am guessing because of our defensive woes, forget that he is only in his second year, and his move may be effecting him more than we all hoped.
I was expecting a lot more as well, so I am also disappointed, however I am also trying to keep it in my mind that we are playing with a quilt work of a defense

We nabbed him in the 1st round so he has a 5th year option. The MLB is integral to the overall function of this D so that's why I'm assuming they'll need to know if he can play the position by the end of this season because they'll need to know what holes to address in FA.

He still has the highest upside of all the LB's in last years draft. The athleticism, the size etc etc. It's just getting him pointed in the right direction and the surprising play of Stupar/Robertson have allowed that to take place.

He's still cross-training and still has Laurinitis in his ear and Robertson is 29 going on 30 and isn't the answer at the Mike position. So it's only logical that it's just a slow process...but it's a process nonetheless and there is a plan.

 

[humbrah]

???

Here were the best players of that defense:

Galette- did the opposite of tinker by signing him long term
Keenan Lewis- ditto
Cam Jordan- ditto
J Greer- career ending injury

In retrospect obviously we should have kept Jenkins instead of signing Byrd, but that was clear to nobody at the time.

Otherwise, you're saying we should have kept the likes of Vilma, Smith, Hawthorne, Corey White, Harper, into 2014? And we wouldn't have sucked?

Nah man. What he meant was the scheme. Payton should not have gotten involved. He said repeatedly they were trying to adopt some of the Seahawks Defense in 2014. In belief that takeaways were all we were missing. We were ranked higher in D in 2013 than O. He should have built to the strengths but instead wanted to copy the single high safety look. Let valuable players go in the process and rewarded and acquired not good ones.
And now were back copying some of the same 3 safety look 3 yrs later!!!

 

[porculator]

Nah man. What he meant was the scheme. Payton should not have gotten involved. He said repeatedly they were trying to adopt some of the Seahawks Defense in 2014. In belief that takeaways were all we were missing. We were ranked higher in D in 2013 than O. He should have built to the strengths but instead wanted to copy the single high safety look. Let valuable players go in the process and rewarded and acquired not good ones.
And now were back copying some of the same 3 safety look 3 yrs later!!!

Ah good point. Though I'm not convinced the scheme was why we were good. We just had 2 good/great DE's and 2 good/great starting CB's that year, which in the Payton era has only happened in 2009/10 and 2013. Every other year we've had a huge hole at CB or DE.

 

[duckjr78]

........they'll need to know if he can play the position by the end of this season because they'll need to know what holes to address in FA.

This is the most integral part of the whole conversation.

He wasn't going to be a Pro Bowler last year.

This year was always about finding out who could be useful around our core guys and what holes you have to go fill this off season.

Next year starts the "visible" part of the push. This year and last, the improvements are much harder to see on field, but the plan is there.

Determining what Anthony's next 3 year's role is will be vital to the "middle" phase of this off season.