The Countdown (1 Viewer)

Was not a member this time last year, first time seeing this, love it, great job and thanks

Well, welcome to saintsreport, and especially welcome to the Countdown, limeyjohn. We do this every year. I love love love when the board participates, so glad you introduced yourself.

I really think that we still have some members who think this thread is just a clock. We’ve had that before, too. So they ignore the thread and miss learning about new players along with our tried and true.

But the reason I do this is it makes the off-season and the sultry, dog days go by faster. Feedback tells me it does that for others. That makes me happy. And Saint Luke joins in with his pictorial array. Best partner in the world.

So like I said, welcome to the Countdown. Drop in every day.
 
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The two Saints of my life, SaintTex and SaintLuke. I know I say the same thing every year, but this is always my favorite thread of the year!!! Thank y'all so much for all your hard work.
Tex, one of my favorite things, are your write ups on each player. They are so downed to earth and common sense. I agree with almost everything you write on each player.
Luke, I always enjoy all the photos of college, the other NFL teams and Saint pics, only if they are just training camp.
You two are a lethal combo. Enjoy it every year. Who Dat! Geaux Saint!! God Bless!!!
 
38 Terrell Williams, Jr. 6’ 4” 212 DB Houston

Williams is in his second season—he was looking good in training camp with the Niners last year before an injury ended his chance at a roster spot. He reached an injury settlement and spent the year mending. He’s at a crowded position, so he’s got his work cut out, but his height alone is exceptional for a DB. He was also making some noise last year in camp with a couple of interceptions. He can play both free and strong safety, so you bet with his versatility and height, we gave him a shot at his first final roster. Watch this one at camp. He’s been waiting a year to show what he’s got.
 
37 Javorius Allen 6’ 218 RB USC

Allen spent his first 4 years as a backup with the Ravens. He was allowed to walk because they signed Mark Ingram. Payton was not happy that Ingram chose the Ravens, with apparently not that much dialogue with us. But here we are. Allen will likely fill the backup role here, since we have Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray as the presumed starters and one-two tandem. Allen is a big back, and he’s a good receiver. But even in the backup role he has competition from Ozigbo and Washington. Allen also plays special teams, and loves the fit in New Orleans. He’s been productive in the past when he gets a chance to get on the field. He describes himself more as a slasher than the downhill runner that Ingram is. He is a willing blocker, which we know you gotta do if you’re going to make a Sean Payton backfield. Allen should be fun to watch.

This competition may come down to who performs best on special teams during preseason. It’s going to be interesting to see how this unfolds. Beginning at the first preseason game. In less than a week from now. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

And big update. Allen has been placed on IR after having not practiced the first few days of camp. Number 37 is also now assigned to our newest RB, Rob Kelley. So don’t look for Allen to play this season. There is no number 36, so we will cover Kelley tomorrow.
 
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This thread always delivers in a big way!
I used to be better at remembering the player's name and # but I'm having trouble this year. Can't tell if it's my getting older or there are more newbies than usual. ?
 
Hey, hey, hey, it’s that time, Saints fans. What guido calls the 4th (or possibly) 5th most wonderful time of the year. We just dropped from triple to double digits in the number of days before the season starts, and that means….wait for it….

THE COUNTDOWN!!!!

Here we go on our annual romp through the roster, counting down by jersey number the days until the first game of the Saints season. (Yes, I know the official season starts before the Saints first game this year. Friends of the Countdown can join this chorus: "We Don’t Care." First day of the season to us is Saints first game. Period. This is Countdown policy. Sticklers for technicalities, go be a lawyer.)

The last couple of years I’ve been on the road more and try to stay off strange WiFi. Which means I use my phone as a hotspot for my tablet. Not always the most reliable internet, even in big cities. So others on the board pitched in. Inside job was the first. Last year I threw doing the pics to the board. That led to the biggest improvement the Countdown has seen when SaintLuke took over the task. He’s got some real skills, and Luke has graciously agreed to be my partner again this year. I am so glad to have him. So a big thanks to Luke, who you will come to appreciate if you haven’t already.

We’ve got some really intriguing additions to this roster, and we are going to cover them one at a time. Before you know it (somewhere in the 50’s or 40’s) it’ll be training camp.

We have a rule here on the Countdown, and it’s one that I intend to enforce. We do not call players camp bodies. These are talented, trained athletes who are working hard and performing at a level that most of us can only ever dream about. And the fact that the Saints think they might play a role on the roster, that makes them our guys. And the ones who are not roster shoe-ins are pursuing a life long dream. We want them to succeed. Like remember a guy named Pierre Thomas? UDFA who beat out a fourth round RB for a roster spot, and proved forever that Sean Payton runs a meritocracy. Plus, the term is dismissive and therefore rude. We are not rude on saintsreport. Andrus set up a family atmosphere where we can disagree but do it in a respectful way. So you are not just free, but welcome to post your legitimate doubts or questions about any player. Just don’t call him a camp body. If you do, you will be asked point blank why you think so. And you will be shunned. You won’t feel it because it’s the internet, but you will still be shunned, and somehow you will not like it. I don’t know how that works. But it does. So play nice.

Now let’s start where we always do, with the big numbers and the big guys.

99 Geneo Grissom 6’ 4” 265 DE Oklahoma

We signed Grissom in the middle of May. He is reported to play all over the line. Our line, especially at DE is set, so it looks like Grissom will be using his versatility (which Payton loves) to make it onto the roster as rotational player on the line. Welcome to New Orleans, Geneo. Can’t wait for you to show us what you can do.
By Mick Smiley "In 2017 there were 774 NFL players who appeared in at least 40-percent of offensive or defensive snaps. A total of 133 of these 774 players (17-percent) were UDFAs. Just to show how large of a percentage this is, the chart below shows the number of 2017 “regular contributors” by draft position:"
 
37 Jacquizz Rodgers 5’6” 205 RB Oregon State

This number has bounced around a lot the last few days. As of a few hours ago, it belongs to Jacquizz Rodgers. He’s been with the Falcons and Bucs, among others, so the team is familiar with him. Short with a low center of gravity, he’s a make you miss running back with good hands. We know how to use a guy like that, on offense and in the return game. One thing about Rodgers, though, is that he is not only known for being a good blocker, which we require of the position, but he is known as a hitter in blocking. Likes to lay into his guy, and he’s small, so the defender is not expecting a full-on stop you in your tracks effort. You gotta like that.

Rodgers will be looking to fill that third RB spot. Watch him in practice and in the first game. He might be another one that’s fun to watch.
 

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