What to do at #13 -- Mike Detillier (1 Viewer)

[Dan in Lafayette]

What to do at #13

By Mike Detillier

The NFL Scouting Combine is well under way and the evaluation of college players has started to hit high gear for the 32 NFL teams.

The Scouting Combine is just a small piece of the personnel puzzle. It does give you very important medical information on each player that is very hard to get before this process and it is the first real job interview for each of the players invited.

How fast a guy can run, how much weight he can lift, how high he can jump and running the drills do have some sense of importance, but it doesn't tell anyone the real big question. Can he play football in the NFL?

That is determined on what the young men do out on the field, not at a shorts and sneakers Olympic trial. The tape on a player is the real evaluation. But what you hope to find out at the Combine is just how hard a player has worked in the off-season and does he like football for the trappings or is it his passion.

The interviews are important in formulating the thoughts of the 32 teams. And yes, coaches, scouts and front-office types do fall in love with athleticism. It is easy to do, but you also have to have your guidance set in place on finding the best football players.

I will always remember a conversation I had with former New Orleans Saints general manager and NFL Hall of Fame executive Jim Finks many years ago:

"The draft process is made to be complicated, but it is no more than an educated guess on how that young man will react to playing professional football," Finks said. "You hope to find players with character, players with a certain dedication to the game and also there are always unconventional people at every profession and you hope they add some "oomph" to your organization. I want team oriented guys, smart players that are certainly athletically gifted football players, but I want first and foremost, football players, not just athletes that can run, jump and lift a lot of weights. I can go to a gym and find people like that. This is the NFL and very few can cut it "football-wise" at this level. The quarterback position is vital on every team, but what wins is the guys up front, offensive and defensive lines. They are the difference-makers in this game and always will be. Just look this up and you will see in the first and second rounds a higher degree of success at those spots than any other. The odds are with you, if you have done the homework right."

That takes me to the New Orleans Saints today. The 2015 off-season for the Saints has to be based on better protecting the most vital piece of your football team. That is quarterback Drew Brees.

The key is reversing a bad sign almost every year in the Sean Payton era in that they have to start winning the giveaway/takeaway ratio. To do that the Saints need to get better at putting pressure on the opposing quarterback and upgrading a secondary that just has not been able to come up with turnovers. In that department, the pressure part aids the secondary turnover part.

The Saints have the right quarterback in Drew Brees and he still has some serious gas left in the football tank, but last year the Saints got beat up in the trenches.

Under the guidance of Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton the Saints have tried to fill the need areas in free agency and then hold a "play card" in the personnel deck of cards come the first couple of rounds of the draft since 2006.

The Saints will have money to spend in veteran free agency.

I strongly feel as though the team needs to address the huge holes they have at cornerback and at offensive center via veteran free agency.

A combination of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell and Kansas City Chiefs center Rodney Hudson would more than fill those spots. But reality is that the Saints also need an ace pass rusher at outside linebacker and they have an aging offensive line with just one starter under 30 years old.

Left tackle Terron Armstead is talented and while he is still in the developmental stage at the NFL level, he is very gifted and he could be a young leader on this football team. The other four starters are on the other side of 30 years old and none of us know enough about Tim Lelito to know if he could develop into a starting guard or center in the NFL.

That takes me to taking a hard look at an offensive lineman in Round One.

The pecking order of the top 10 in Round One in 2015 looks to be:

Leonard Williams - Defensive Tackle, USC
Marcus Mariota - Quarterback, Oregon
Jameis Winston - Quarterback, Florida State
Randy Gregory - Defensive End/Outside Linebacker, Nebraska
Dante Fowler, Jr .- Defensive End/Outside Linebacker Florida
Danny Shelton - Defensive Tackle, Washington
Amari Cooper - Wide Receiver, Alabama
Kevin White - Wide Receiver, West Virginia
Shane Ray - Defensive End/Outside Linebacker, Missouri
Brandon Scherff - Offensive Tackle/Guard, Iowa

The next few picks will dictate what the Saints will do at the #13th spot.

Jumbled in those next few picks will be Louisville wide receiver DeVante Parker, Alabama safety Landon Collins, two pass rush defensive end/outside linebacker prospects in Clemson's Vic Beasley and Alvin "Bud" Dupree from Kentucky and an intriguing hybrid player in Washington outside linebacker/strong safety Shaq Thompson.

And the list is very healthy along the offensive line too, with two of my top rated 14 players in this draft class in LSU offensive tackle/guard La'el Collins and Stanford offensive tackle Andrus Peat, followed closely by Miami (Fla.) offensive tackle Ereck Flowers and offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings from Pittsburgh.

Pressure breaks the football pipe and a top pass rusher is a huge need area, but with four current starters over 30 years old the Saints will have to take a very hard look at drafting an offensive lineman in the opening round, and there is a good selection of offensive linemen to pick from.

Personally it would be difficult for me to pass on LSU's La'el Collins in Round One unless one of the top-rated pass rushers like Ray, Gregory or Fowler would fall and that is highly unlikely.

It is no hometown pick. It wouldn’t matter to me if he played at Connecticut or Montana State. Collins has just not been a good left tackle at LSU, but he has been a dominant one. He is a noted run blocker and, with little semblance of a passing attack and opposing teams knowing they were running the ball, they could not stop the Tigers from rushing the ball when they ran it in Collins' direction.

Just take a look the numbers put up by Jeremy Hill, Alfred Blue, Terrence Magee, Kenny Hilliard and Leonard Fournette and where they were getting a big chunk of their yardage.

The young man is a pretty good pass blocker also. Collins may start off inside in the pros, but eventually he will play tackle in the NFL.

For the next few years Drew Brees will be the quarterback for the Saints and the Saints need to build a fort around him protection-wise and maximize the rushing attack. Brees is 36 years old and the team's chances of getting back into the playoff hunt rests in his hands.

The Saints need to find playmakers that can create turnovers on defense. They must, and I can't emphasize it enough, win that huge giveaway/takeaway ratio number, but they need a healthy Brees to get back to the upper-tier of the NFL.

The eventual replacement for Brees is not on the roster today. If he goes down for an extended length of time ,this team would be lucky to win four to five games.

In the best years in Sean Payton's timeframe in New Orleans in 2009 and 2011, the Saints had their best offensive lines. It is the key in this offense along with the play at quarterback. Brees cannot take another year of pressure, hits and quarterback sacks like he did in 2014. So that means getting better in the trenches at center and also at the guard positions and finding an eventual replacement for right tackle Zach Strief.

Ben Grubbs will turn 31 years old in March, Jahri Evans will turn 32 years old in August and Zach Strief will turn 32 years old in September. All high dollar players in the salary cap structure of the team. In the blink of a football eye the Saints have gotten old along the offensive line and at quarterback. That is not a good spot to be in as those football avenues cross.

The Saints have been smart in locating small college offensive line talents like Jahri Evans, Jermon Bushrod, now with the Chicago Bears, and Terron Armstead. With the bevy of talent at the tackle/guard spot around the 13th spot, it will hard to pass on a quality offensive lineman in this draft unless that "need" spot or spots are filled before the draft.

The next few weeks will give us a better indication of what direction the Saints will focus in on in Round One, but players like Collins, Peat and Flowers are players to seriously consider in the opening round.

It has been over 25 years since Jim Finks spoke to me those words of importance about winning the football battle in the trenches and how that would never change.

For the 2015 New Orleans Saints they have to get better and fast along the offensive line. The Saints under Loomis/Payton have never used a first round pick on an offensive lineman. That may well occur in 2015.


Another Try at the NFL for Nicks

One former New Orleans Saints standout in offensive guard Carl Nicks is working out and hopes to give the NFL another shot. In my opinion, with the Saints, Nicks was a better player than Jahri Evans and he cashed in big signing on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 after playing his best season in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints in 2011.

With the knee injury to cornerback Jabari Greer late in the 2013 season, the Saints secondary has never been the same. I can say the same for the loss of Nicks. Since departing for Tampa the Saints offensive line has never played as well. When healthy Nicks was just not a good player, but a dominant one. A severe toe injury and a serious staph infection made him a shell of the once star offensive guard. Those issues forced him to retire early from the game last summer. Nicks is working out, physically feeling better and it will be interesting to see if he can get back into top shape and give the NFL another shot.


An Orchard of Help as a Pass Rusher

One player to keep an eye on, if the New Orleans Saints select an offensive lineman in Round One, would be Utah defensive end/outside linebacker Nate Orchard. Up until the start of the 2014 season the former high school wide receiver had been a good hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker for Utah, but as a senior he blossomed into one of the elite pass rushers in college football.

Orchard had an All-American season in 2014 totaling 84 tackles, 21 tackles for losses and 18 ½ quarterback sacks. The 6-4, 255 pounder was the winner of the Ted Hendricks Award as the top defensive end in college football and the winner of the Morris Award as the top defensive lineman in the PAC-12.

The difference in the Orchard of 2014 than in previous years was that he learned how to use his long arms and hands to shed off blockers quicker at the point of attack and he has “serious” closing speed to the quarterback. His natural edge bend to get into the backfield is very smooth and he plays the game with good leverage skills. While he will need to continue to work on his overall strength, Orchard’s first step up the field is very quick and he has very good track down instincts. Coaches at Utah praise him highly, not only for his talent and his edge rush speed, but also for his commitment to the game and his work ethic is at the highest level.

In another draft class not as thick in edge rushers Orchard would probably be selected in Round One, but in this class that is fairly thick in the hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker category, Orchard could fall into the second round and he would be a good “fit” outside linebacker for the New Orleans Saints.


Talent or Character?

Talent sometimes overtakes character. When you look at a few of the top players in the draft class of 2015, it will be interesting to see how it effects the draft status of Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, Washington cornerback Marcus Peters (who was my highest rated cornerback before he was kicked out of the Huskies’ program) and troubled former Missouri wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham who never played a down for them before he decided to leave early for the 2015 NFL draft. To be honest I really see all three of them landing in Round One.

It’s funny how NFL folks talk about character and team-oriented players. It comes downto in most cases, the better the player you are, the more chances you get. Fair or not, it is the reality of sports.


The Breaux Show

I had an opportunity to speak to a head coach in the Canadian Football League about recently signed New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux.

“ I really hope he makes it in the NFL because I sure as hell don’t want him back in the Canadian Football League, “ said a CFL head coach who asked to remain anonymous. “ I have to be honest and say I didn’t know anything about Delvin when he came into the league in 2013. I asked one of my assistants who was a coach in the South when Breaux came out of high school and he told me his story. I just couldn’t believe how gifted he was with no college time and very limited semi-pro experience. He’s a natural. Delvin has good size, long arms, he’s a physical player with receivers downfield and he is aggressive in attacking the football. There will be an adjustment time for him, but he’s awfully good. He has a feel for cutting off a receiver’s route and gaining an angle to the ball in flight. You can’t teach that sort of stuff. Either you have it or you don’t. Delvin’s got that sense for putting himself in a spot to make a play and teams stayed away from throwing in his direction. I’m pulling for him. That’s a great story and for every one player has overcome the odds and succeeds there are 25 that can’t do it. He’s back home too and that helps the mental part of playing in the NFL. From what I saw from the Saints defensive backs last year Breaux can play pretty quick. Other than Keenan (Lewis) they were awful in coverage and many times totally out of position. Either they weren’t coached well or you got guys that don’t know what they are doing out on the field mentally. Either way, they are jackpot lucky to have a quarterback like Drew Brees down there. I know Dennis Allen pretty well and he will help coach them-up defensively, but they need a talent infusion too and a healthy Jarius Byrd in the lineup.”


Jen Hale on The Westminster Dog Agility Championships

Last week millions of dog owners and dog lovers got a chance to watch the Westminster Dog Show and the Westminster Dog Agility Championships in New York.

New Orleans-based Fox Sports reporter Jennifer Hale got a chance to cover the Dog Agility Championships for the second straight year and the events got huge coverage not only in the states, but worldwide.

“Right now, the Westminster Agility Trials are being held at Pier 54 in New York, but I envision them moving soon to Madison Square Garden,” Hale said. “I was on the Fox Sports 1 announcing team for last year’s event and the participation exploded by 40% this year. The show had to turn away hopefuls who wanted to compete because Pier 54 didn’t have enough space to accommodate everyone. ”

Hale, who is the sideline reporter for the New Orleans Pelicans and is also a spokesperson for Thibodaux Regional Medical Hospital, says that she is amazed at the talent level of the dogs and many were rescue dogs.

“The All-American dogs have a tremendous story to follow. They are the “mutts” or the non-pure bred competitors. So many were rescue dogs, competing and excelling in the Agility Championships. Some of these dogs were just days away from leaving this world. It’s really a life lesson about how everyone has value. What is really amazing is that these canine athletes and their owner/handlers are so dedicated to the sport and they invest so much time to competing. You can’t help but take such enjoyment in watching them work together.

I was born in New Orleans, but I grew up on a small farm right outside of Mobile, Alabama. We raised cows, chickens and pigs and of course had dogs, cats and rabbits as pets. These talented dogs and the event take me back to my childhood. I truly believe that they have an indescribable power to comfort, inspire and understand in situations where humans can’t or won’t.”


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