I just want to first start off by telling everyone a little about myself. My name is Tyler Dupree, I live down on the MS gulf coast with my wife and newborn son. I’ll be joining Andrew as the part of the writing team here at Saints Nation. I am a diehard Saints fan thanks to my dad for bringing me up as a Saints fan. I would greatly appreciate feedback in the comment area good or bad. Now that is out of the way here is my first article talking about the defensive line.
Going into the 2011 campaign, the Saints had to address many needs but none larger than the defensive line. The Saints were going into free agency this year looking to improve the depth and getting some much needed pass rush along the defensive line. Last year the Saints had Remi Aydoele, Anthony Hargrove and Sedrick Ellis as their rotation of defensive tackles. The group while not a great unit was a unit that held up the for the most part during the 2010 season. The Saints had the chance to bring back both Aydoele and Hargrove in free agency but you almost got the feeling that the Saints were putting them on the back burner while going after higher profile players. The writing was on the wall for the duo when before the lockout, the Saints went out and signed Shaun Rogers. It would have been a good rotation this year if you would have had Ellis, Rogers and a lesser name guy like Ayodele or Hargrove. But in what had to be a total surprise to many Saints fan they go out and get a guy like Aubrayo Franklin to put in with Ellis and Rodgers.
With those three manning the fort in the middle of the line…
it was an easy decision to part ways with Ayodele and Hargrove. It went from one of the middle of the road defensive tackles rotation to one of the league’s best in a matter of months. Franklin, Rogers and Ellis might not get a lot of sacks but they should shut the running game down most importantly. By having these three rotating in and out they will command double teams helping the defensive ends get one on one battles with offensive tackles creating more sacks, it also helps the linebacking core by keeping the offensive line off of them. It will not show up in the stat column but these three guys will have a huge affect on the running game and help improve on the sack totals.
The defensive ends last year were a very underachieving unit to say the least. With a rotation featuring Will Smith, Alex Brown, Jeff Charleston, Jimmy Wilkerson and Junior Galette the unit combined on 12.5 sacks last year. It was a very disappointing total to say the least, and it also hurt other areas of the defense. It allows the quarterbacks ample time to complete more passes and puts more pressure on your cornerbacks to cover longer. It also hurts your linebackers because you have to blitz one or two at a time just to get some pressure and you might miss a running back coming out of the backfield. The team let Jimmy Wilkerson sign elsewhere this offseason but in doing so they went out and signed Turk McBride. While not a headliner, McBride who was a reserve last year with the Lions still had five sacks would have been second on the team last year in sacks. He just another high motor guy providing much needed depth, it would also help too that Will Smith is most likely serving the first four game with a suspension that maybe he can step in and start those four games. The Saints went out and drafted Cameron Jordan of California this year. He was projected to be off the board way before the Saints came to the podium but to the surprise of the front office he was still there and the Saints were more than happy to make that phone call to tell him he was the newest member of the Saints. Cam Jordan is a guy who can come in and rush the passer with his hand up or down and he is guy who on passing downs can move down and rush the passer from the defensive tackle position. It is still up in the air who will fill that fifth spot. The team likes Junior Galette, who spent all last year fighting off injuries. He is competing against Jeff Charleston to see who will fill the final spot but I expect that both guys will hang around until Will Smith comes off suspension.
This offseason the Saints deserve a A plus going out and getting the guys that will make this unit one of the league’s best. It should also make Coach Williams sleep a little better this season knowing he got four guys that can get after the quarterback and stop the run.
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