I would venture to guess that the Saints secondary unit was responsible for more than a few ulcers among the fan base. In many ways this was the unit that performed the worst for the team throughout the year, but it wasn’t the worst unit. I say that because the Saints secondary does have some excellent talent and hope for improvement, but there is no question in my mind that this unit was the most disappointing of any on the team all year. The secondary is comprised of two units: Corners and Safeties, and the Saitns had issues with both. Fortunately (and unfortunately) for the Saints the two units did not suffer from the same problems. The Saints have a very talented trio of safeties in Bush, Vaccaro, and Byrd…but through injuries and issues with growth and scheme the unit played poorly. Provided Bush and Byrd come back healthy though it should be a major strength for the team next year. Corner was a simple lack of developed talent outside of Keenan. Lets look at the players individually, starting with the safeties.
SAFETIES:
Vinnie Sunseri: 3 tackls, 2 assists
I don’t have special teams stats but before he went to IR he was looking every bit the special teams ace we thought we were getting. The ‘honky badger’ played his butt off, knew where to be, and did whatever his coaches asked of him. That’s a great thing to have. He will be back next year. The team needs his kind of effort and reliability.
Rafael Bush: 44 tackles, 11 assists, and 3 passes defended.
Bush was probably the Saints best open field tackler outside of maybe Curtis Lofton. Losing him was a major blow to a unit that was already short on NFL quality players when it lost Jairus. Bush doesn’t really do anything GREAT, but what he brings is a little bit of everything as a safety and a lot of consistency. He usually takes good angles, tackles well (it’s called wrapping up guys) provides decent coverage ability, and also is more than willing to ‘lay the wood’. Bush was signed to an offer by the Falcons in the offseason, but the Saints wasted practically zero time in matching the offer. It was definitely the right move. At worst Bush is an excellent backup/rotational safety, but with Vaccaro most likely moving back to the nickel role, and the 3-safety sets resulting from that move, he will flourish. Bush is part of what should be a developing young core for the Saints…provided he comes back 100%.
Kenny Vaccaro: 52 Tackles, 23 assists, 1 sack, 2 picks.
Kenny had the definition of an up and down season. There were moments, flashes, of his tremendous upside. But there also seemed to be far too many instances where he was missing tackles he always seemed to make last year or taking poor angles and blowing coverages. I covered what I believed to be some of the causes for his struggles earlier in the year, but I’ll give a brief recap. He was playing almost an entirely different position from his rookie year (later acknowledged by both him and Ryan) while also rounding back into game shape from his injury at the end of last season (just didnt look right early in the year. Some of his struggles were also not entirely his fault; the fact is that our safeties were asked to do way too much because our defensive line and linebackers played so poorly. A runningback is supposed to beat a safety in the open field and sadly this happened to us far too often. Not everything is excusable though; he also showed a lack of discipline, some excessive aggression on plays, and perhaps some lack of maturity/professionalism that was going around among some of the young guys. Kenny will be back, and if the Saints can fix the holes around him in the defense I believe he will return to the playmaking dynamo we saw so often in his rookie season.
Pierre Warren: 21 tackles, 9 assists, 2 picks, 1 forced fumble.
Warren was the guy many fans were hoping would make the team after he showed a knack for stealing the ball away in preseason last year. It took awhile but due to injuries the Saints did eventually bring him back and he saw a lot of time over the final few weeks. Warren was very much a mixed bag. He showed good instincts and his ability to make plays as he forced 3 turnovers (which felt like half the teams total to be honest), but outside of that he showed why he was a UDFA and practice squad player. He took horrible run angles, over pursued, couldn’t really cover, and was often out of position. None of that is entirely unexpected, but I am not one of those fans who goes ‘hey he got a pick it’s all forgiven guys’. I am a firm believer that a consistent player who rarely makes mistakes or gets beaten is better than a poor one who sometimes makes up for it. With that said I wouldn’t be shocked if he makes the team next year as a backup/developmental player. Warren has shown he can play in this league, but he is nowhere near ready to be a starting free safety on a contender.
Marcus Ball: 12 Tackles, 4 assists.
Ball is basically the Canadian Sunseri. His value is almost entirely on the special teams unit (and there is NOTHING wrong with that) as we saw throughout the year when he got snaps on defense. Ball’s coverage skills would make most of us want to resign Harper with all immediate haste, but he is an aggressive passionate player who works his butt off. An ideal special teams player Ball has a chance at making the roster next year, but I don’t see a lot of value from him outside of that beyond being an emergency backup. Expect him back, but don’t expect much more than solid special teams play.
Jamarca Sanford: 12 Tackles, 2 assists.
Sanford provided exactly what we expected from him when he was brought in late in the season. He ran the plays that were called, tackled cleanly, and did nothing spectacular. He is exactly what you think of when you say ‘veteran’, he just knows how to play the game. With that said, I don’t expect him back next year. The Saints simply have too much talented depth at the Safety position to keep him.
Jairus Byrd: 17 tackles, 5 assists, 1 forced fumble.
Byrd was supposed to be the player who helped the Saints take the next step up as a defense. That wasn’t the case. Shortly after signing his mega-deal Byrd had to go through a ‘minor’ back procedure that sidelined him for much of training camp and the off-season. It was obvious that through the first few games of the season he was still rounding into shape and adjusting to the scheme as well as his new teammates. The lack of a pass rush and competent corner/linebacker player on a consistent basis neutralized his ability to ‘ballhawk’, but I did notice that QB’s were trying to avoid him when they could. It was just so awful at the corner position that they never had to try to attack him. Byrd definitely struggled adjusting at first, but I thought his best game by far was the game against Dallas where he made several plays where I was shocked the Dallas player held on to the ball. Byrd was also about a half step away from a couple of picks in that game. I am convinced that if there had been better play around him he would have forced at least 1 turnover in that game, but the more important part was that he was beginning to look like the player we thought we were getting. Unfortunately he suffered a freak injury in practice shortly after that and his season was over just as it seemed to be starting. I believe that Byrd should be able to come back fully healthy this year and to participate fully in the off-season programs this year. If the Saints fix the middle of the team (interior D-line and another ILB) Byrd should be able to play a lot more freely and use the instincts that made him a ’60 million dollar man’. I look forward to his resurgence in 15’…we will need it.
Position grade: D for this year, but could easily be an A next year….injuries suck.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
