N/S Zack Baun: Top Graded LB / DPOY cand. [Why Isn’t Baun Still a Saint Thread] ………. [Eagles re-sign Baun to 3-year, $51 million contract on March 5] (13 Viewers)

[BreesusSaves]

I feel awful for Michael Hodges. Baun didn't go to Philly and become first team All Pro in a single training camp. His development came in New Orleans. Michael Hodges should get all the credit for Baun's development but wont.

 

[VPCajun]

Two of the five finalists for DPOY are Zack Baun and Trey Hendrickson​

Of course, they are!

 

[treeduck]

The Loomis Award should be introduced for stupidly letting good players walk.

 

[Saint KayBee]

Not arguing your stats but i think the reason alot of posters call him a pass rush specialist because when he was drafted most of his highlights was him getting to the qb and that kind of stuck.

But i think your post is on point. His biggest problem was and wouldve been was opportunity. I always felt DA ran this Big Nickel Base defense where the Nickel was like the 3rd LB, CG Johnson and Alontae Taylor were both very physical and had decent coverage skills so it always feels the SAM LB never gets a chance to shine in his defense

In this passing league it’s going to be hard to consistently field 3 LBs for the majority of the snaps. To get a third LB out there regularly, one of them would either have to be the equivalent of a Lawrence Taylor-Von Miller-Derrick Thomas mold at rushing the QB from a two-point stance, or a Karlos Dansby-Derrick Brooks-KJ Wright level pass coverage guy against receiving backs, tight ends, and slot WRs, and probably both, with a third LB in the Jon Vilma-Mike Singletary-Patrick Willis role of being a rangy, open-field tackler who calls the defenses and diagnoses the offense each down. It is hard to have all three of those, and pay them. Plan B would be to run a 3-3-5 but that would involve radically overhauling the DEs on the roster.

 

[platinumvinnyv]

In this passing league it’s going to be hard to consistently field 3 LBs for the majority of the snaps. To get a third LB out there regularly, one of them would either have to be the equivalent of a Lawrence Taylor-Von Miller-Derrick Thomas mold at rushing the QB from a two-point stance, or a Karlos Dansby-Derrick Brooks-KJ Wright level pass coverage guy against receiving backs, tight ends, and slot WRs, and probably both, with a third LB in the Jon Vilma-Mike Singletary-Patrick Willis role of being a rangy, open-field tackler who calls the defenses and diagnoses the offense each down. It is hard to have all three of those, and pay them. Plan B would be to run a 3-3-5 but that would involve radically overhauling the DEs on the roster.

Yup and this def barely got a pass rush with 4 no way this fanbase could wait to develop 3 elite enough to run 335 in the nfl

But I felt da was in nickel like 90% of the snaps

 

[JackDiesel]

The Loomis Award should be introduced for stupidly letting good players walk.

It was just as much if not more on Allen.

He wouldn't play Baun. What can Loomis do in that situation? We got an extra year of an aging Davis instead of an All Pro Baun.

Allen called Hendrickson an effort player. You think that sounds like an endorsement to re-sign a player? Allen had control over the defense when Payton was coach, so I doubt he lobbied hard to keep Hendrickson.

 

[treeduck]

It was just as much if not more on Allen.

He wouldn't play Baun. What can Loomis do in that situation? We got an extra year of an aging Davis instead of an All Pro Baun.

Allen called Hendrickson an effort player. You think that sounds like an endorsement to re-sign a player? Allen had control over the defense when Payton was coach, so I doubt he lobbied hard to keep Hendrickson.

Maybe it should be the DA award then.

 

[Saint KayBee]

The Loomis Award should be introduced for stupidly letting good players walk.

We can award it retroactively to 2000 when he first became a front office executive

2000: Chiefs lose Joe Horn to the Saints
2001: Steelers lose Mike Vrabel to the Patriots
2002: Buccaneers lose Warrick Dunn to the Falcons
2003: tough call here but I’m going Jake Plummer leaving the Cardinals for the Broncos because of who they drafted the very next season
2004: Titans lose Jevon Kearse to the Eagles
2005: Steelers lose Plaxico Burress to the Giants
2006: Chargers lose Drew Brees to the Saints
2007: Colts lose Jason Dav… lol jk. Bills lose Nate Clements to the 49ers
2008: Steelers lose Alan Faneca to the Jets
2009: Vikings lose some free safety to the Saints, allegedly
2010: Panthers lose Julius Peppers to the Bears
2011: Bengals lose Jonathan Joseph to the Texans
2012: Colts lose Peyton Manning to the Broncos
2013: Steelers lose Mike Wallace to the Dolphins
2014: Panthers lose Steve Smith to the Ravens
2015: Patriots lose Darrelle Revis to the Jets
2016: Packers lose Casey Hayward to the Chargers (Kelechi Osemele deserves a mention here after the Ravens lost him to the Raiders)
2017: Packers lose Tays… Cardinals lose Calais Campbell to the Jaguars
2018: Colts lose Vontae Davis to the Bills, who subsequently lost him to a halftime show. This is also the year the Saints signed Demario Davis from the Browns
2019: Giants lose Landon Collins to the Football Team
2020: Cowboys lose Byron Jones to the Dolphins
2021: Saints lose Trey Hendrickson to the Bengals
2022: Bears lose Khalil Mack to the Chargers
2023: Bengals lose Jessie Bates to the Falcons
2024: Giants lose Saquon Barkley to the Eagles

 

[JackDiesel]

We can award it retroactively to 2000 when he first became a front office executive

2000: Chiefs lose Joe Horn to the Saints
2001: Steelers lose Mike Vrabel to the Patriots
2002: Buccaneers lose Warrick Dunn to the Falcons
2003: tough call here but I’m going Jake Plummer leaving the Cardinals for the Broncos because of who they drafted the very next season
2004: Titans lose Jevon Kearse to the Eagles
2005: Steelers lose Plaxico Burress to the Giants
2006: Chargers lose Drew Brees to the Saints
2007: Colts lose Jason Dav… lol jk. Bills lose Nate Clements to the 49ers
2008: Steelers lose Alan Faneca to the Jets
2009: Vikings lose some free safety to the Saints, allegedly
2010: Panthers lose Julius Peppers to the Bears
2011: Bengals lose Jonathan Joseph to the Texans
2012: Colts lose Peyton Manning to the Broncos
2013: Steelers lose Mike Wallace to the Dolphins
2014: Panthers lose Steve Smith to the Ravens
2015: Patriots lose Darrelle Revis to the Jets
2016: Packers lose Casey Hayward to the Chargers (Kelechi Osemele deserves a mention here after the Ravens lost him to the Raiders)
2017: Packers lose Tays… Cardinals lose Calais Campbell to the Jaguars
2018: Colts lose Vontae Davis to the Bills, who subsequently lost him to a halftime show. This is also the year the Saints signed Demario Davis from the Browns
2019: Giants lose Landon Collins to the Football Team
2020: Cowboys lose Byron Jones to the Dolphins
2021: Saints lose Trey Hendrickson to the Bengals
2022: Bears lose Khalil Mack to the Chargers
2023: Bengals lose Jessie Bates to the Falcons
2024: Giants lose Saquon Barkley to the Eagles

A lot of those guys already knew the talent was there and they just couldn't pay them. Injury issues also played a part.

Saints had Baun riding the bench basically. All-pro talent that you drafted highly and desperately needed. Might be the biggest fumble in the last few years in the NFL, maybe longer.

 

[Saint KayBee]

A lot of those guys already knew the talent was there and they just couldn't pay them. Injury issues also played a part.

Saints had Baun riding the bench basically. All-pro talent that you drafted highly and desperately needed. Might be the biggest fumble in the last few years in the NFL, maybe longer.

The Giants letting Saquon Barkley walk and to a division rival, is the largest fumble in NFL free agency in the last 5-10 years. Saquon would be MVP this season if sports media could gets its head from up quarterbacks’ behinds to the point where they’ve basically designated OPOY to be the best non-quarterback award. Baun could win DPOY in a landslide and the only MVP talk he’d garner would be from perpetually pissy Saints media and fans. Stop it.

 

[JackDiesel]

The Giants letting Saquon Barkley walk and to a division rival, is the largest fumble in NFL free agency in the last 5-10 years. Saquon would be MVP this season if sports media could gets its head from up quarterbacks’ behinds to the point where they’ve basically designated OPOY to be the best non-quarterback award. Baun could win DPOY in a landslide and the only MVP talk he’d garner would be from perpetually pissy Saints media and fans. Stop it.

You need to stop because talented players hitting FA to go to another team that's willing to pay them more happens all the time. Henry walked from the Titans and tore it up. We lost Ellis and Onyemata to a division rival just a couple years ago. Losing Hendrickson sucked but we knew the talent was there and he got paid.

Let me put it to you like this, name another time in recent NFL history where a player went from not having a role on one team, hitting FA and then becoming an All Pro without even his role changing. We had a big answer to our defense in the building but our talent evaluation was so bad we couldn't see it. That's a much bigger fumble than losing a talented player because you couldn't pay them enough.

 

[Saint KayBee]

You need to stop because talented players hitting FA to go to another team that's willing to pay them more happens all the time. Henry walked from the Titans and tore it up. We lost Ellis and Onyemata to a division rival just a couple years ago. Losing Hendrickson sucked but we knew the talent was there and he got paid.

Let me put it to you like this, name another time in recent NFL history where a player went from not having a role on one team, hitting FA and then becoming an All Pro without even his role changing. We had a big answer to our defense in the building but our talent evaluation was so bad we couldn't see it. That's a much bigger fumble than losing a talented player because you couldn't pay them enough.

Baun was the third linebacker in a 2-LB system

He took less money because he wanted to play - he had a contract on the table here

1 page ago he and his 3.5 sacks was called a pass rush specialist

I know hating every single thing the Saints do is chic these days but our thinking parts and our communicating parts are too closely linked for all this misfiring between them

 

[Bayouboy]

Baun is drafted by your team. Dude is in your facility every day, but primarily plays special teams. Can not crack the starting lineup. Contract is due, you try to resign him, but he wants more playing time. Ends up with another team and is lighting the league on fire.......in consideration for DPOY.

Huh? Happens all the time, right?

Even when the scouts hit, the Saints miss. Who Dat!!!

 

[slaym]

Poor coaching.

 

[Rouxble]

Joint responsibility from Allen and Loomis.

Allen never saw Baun as good enough to overtake Werner or Davis. He saw Werner as valuable enough to warrant a contract extension, which was at least partially a reaction to losing two LB's to FA in the past two offseasons. Of course, I think anyone here would have preferred to give that money to Baun in hindsight. I can't imagine Werner ever turning in a season like Baun did in his first full-time starting year.

Loomis had us somewhat stuck with Davis due to excessive dead money on a 35 year old LB, which led to a contract extension last offseason to keep our cap in order. That's also money that could have been given to Baun, but it doesn't matter much since Allen didn't see Baun as worthy of starting snaps.