I recently reached out on twitter to see if there were any questions/comments that our readers wanted me to address. I got some pretty good responses and couple of very interesting questions. Without any further ado or gilding of the lily (I love that movie) here are their questions and my responses to them.
@kirus16 Does Stanley Jean Baptiste make the roster in 2015?
— Saints Happy Hour Podcast (@SaintsHappyHour) May 30, 2015
The short answer to this is yes. I think SJB stays on the roster for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is Nick Toon. We as fans continually (and you in particular Andrew) have often wondered how it is that Toon still retains a roster spot when he has never demonstrated an ability to be consistently productive. The general consensus is that the coaching staff don’t want to give up on his ‘potential’, and I believe the same thing will ring true for SJB. There is also the fact that Payton has made it pretty clear on a number of occasions that the team has a plan for him and that they believe in him still. Perhaps the biggest reason that I believe he remains on the 2015 roster though is Brandon Browner. He not only has similar size to SJB (6’4″, 220 ilbs for Browner and 6’3″ 220 ilbs for SJB), but also is very similar measurable wise to another player who Browner has mentored and helped to develop…Richard Sherman. Now I am not, and never will, compare SJB to Sherman, but that doesn’t mean that Browner can’t be as great of a mentor to SJB as he was to Sherman. Unless he totally regresses and is like Corey White bad in camp/preseason I don’t see any scenario where the Saints coaching staff is going to give up on their second round pick after just one season. Not with his upside.
@kirus16 @SaintsNationBlg which WRs and DBs (CB, SS, FS) do you see getting cut by week 1? Also, do you see Grayson as the QB of the future?
— David Black (@jdavidyblack) May 30, 2015
A two part question deserves a two part answer so here we go:
First of all I see the cuts being Jaelan Saunders, Kyle Wilson, Brian Dixon, Terrance Frederick, Kenny Phillips, Jamarca Sanford,maybe Pierre Warren, Kyle Praeter (practice squad), Josh Morgan, R.J. Harris (practice squad), and Willie Snead. I think either Williams or Swann is going to outright win the nickel corner spot and my money is on P.J Williams being the guy. That leaves you with Lewis, Browner, Breaux, and Baptiste as the outside Corners with Swann backing up Williams and also potentially working as a Safety as well. This is of course all conjecture since we haven’t even started training camp yet, but Williams has the potential to be a stud for the Saints in the nickel role and I’m not the only one who things so (Nick Underhill has singled him out a couple of times as being a very solid pickup). Payton went out of his way to single out Swann a couple of times already so that means he is most likely doing pretty well. Dixon is the only guy on that cut list who I think might have a shot, but with Breaux and SJB being the presumed ‘guys of the future’ he is likely the odd man out. As for the WR position the starters are Cooks and Colston. I believe the guys who will be behind them will be Jones, Coleman, and Toon (all big receivers with a bit of speed and solid hands) and the guy who personally believe is going to be the stud from that group is Sentavious ‘Stretch’ Jones. I also believe the team will keep Joe Morgan simply because of his tremendous big play potential (assuming he keeps his head out of his…back pockets). All of that is obviously subject to change after we get to see more of them in camp and preseason, but based on what we know of them so far and the little I can glean from coaches and media reports I believe this to be the most likely scenario as of now.
As to your second question the answer is a definitive…maybe. I’m not trying to be a pest or politically correct here, it’s just simply too early to tell. What I will say is that after watching Grayson’s film from College I can see why the Saints picked him. He has a good arm, strong mechanics, played in a pro system, and seems to be a ‘gamer’. There were some reports on Grayson having an elongated and awkward throwing motion, but that came as a result of him having a shoulder injury and it was the only way he could throw last year. The fact that he chose to play through an injury like that and still played well shows not only toughness but a competitive drive and desire not to let his teammates down. Those are ideal (and necessary) traits for a QB to have and so in that regard he is set. I can say with at least a reasonable degree of confidence that he definitely could become the Saints QB of the future. The fact that Payton gave him high praise and purposefully chose to work with him is a good sign since the last three guys he did that with turned out very well (revived Collins, developed Romo, and elevated Brees). Only time will tell, but Saints fans should definitely keep an eye on him.
https://twitter.com/SirGumbeaux/status/604498487170826240
The only situation in which I could see Galette demanding a trade from the Saints is if he gets benched. I highly doubt that will happen so I’m not too worried about him. I honestly can only think of two players on the team who in a particular circumstance would demand a trade.
It won’t happen this year, but it’s entirely possible (unlikely, but possible) that if he can’t get the extension for the money that he wants Drew Brees might demand a trade next year. It has about the same odds of me winning the lottery tonight, but it could happen. The issue with a trade demand is leverage, only a couple of players on the team would have any kind of leverage to make that kind of demand, and most of the ones that do have enough job security and respect within the organization that it would make no sense to do so.
However, if Mark Ingram were to get hurt (again) and lose playing early in the year and Khiry were to finally be able to bring his best consistently I could see it being entirely possible that Ingram demands a trade. This one would actually make sense because Robinson is actually the more talented back and if he were able to be highly productive over a 4-5 game stretch I could see the coaches ‘staying with the hot hand’ and allowing him to remain the ‘starter’ for the Saints. If that were to happen Ingram would have enough leverage to make the demand (just signed a 4-year 16 million dollar extension) as well as a legitimate gripe with the team (losing his spot due to injury). In that scenario a trade demand wouldn’t be all that far fetched, but with that said I highly doubt any trade demand happens with this team any time in the near future.
https://twitter.com/SirGumbeaux/status/604499057524928512
If you had asked me if by midway through the season if the D looks like a clone of last years atrocity if Rob would be fired and Allen would be given his job I would say it was HIGHLY likely. But if what you are asking me is if Rob’s time is pretty much up regardless of how things occur and it’s merely a matter of when and not if…then I would have to say I think its very unlikely. There are a number of reasons why keeping both coaches as long as you can makes sense, but here’s the biggest ones:
First of all the players love Rob and that’s something you can’t discount. As long as they are happy with him and believe that he is ‘their guy’ it could be a VERY unpopular move within the lockerroom to get rid of him. That is especially the case when the players have repeatedly stated that last years debacle was on them, not him (film backs that up). I don’t care who your DC is, if you have inferior talent and a lack of team unity no defense is going to prosper. The main reason though is that Allen and Ryan actually make a phenomenal pair. Both are highly motivated and highly intelligent football minds who generally are respected and loved by the players they coach. Both have something to prove, and both have been members of a SB winning staff and so they know the value of teamwork. I don’t actually see the DA signing as a threat to Ryan’s job, but as an asset to it. With two great minds working on game plans the Saint should field not only a smarter defense, but one that is a little more contained (Allen is said to bring the calming influence to counter Ryan’s bombastic personality). It also allows Allen to focus primarily on the secondary while Ryan focuses on the front seven, this means both coaches get to monitor their areas of expertise more closely. So long as their egos don’t get in the way this pairing could bring about the best Saints defense in decades.
https://twitter.com/SirGumbeaux/status/604501337330450433
This one is easy to me because I don’t think McCown is going to be on the roster by week 1 much less week 7. My money is on Griffin beating him out if for no other reason than they are at worst about even and Griffin is the younger player who could still bring trade value in the future, McCown could be released and then resigned whenever (NOBODY is going to sign him guys). I would go with Griffin because he has more experience in the system and is more comfortable within the offense, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Payton decided to throw the rookie into the fire to see what he has. I believe that decision would be entirely predicated on what happened in practice because we know Sean is going to go with whoever he believes gives the team the best chance to win.
https://twitter.com/Monedula_/status/605452068640444416
Sadly no I do not have that kind of pull. We are both ORST grads and are both from the bay area, but sadly we spent our time in different circles in Corvallis….that said I might have to ask around cuz I may know somebody who knows somebody if you know what I mean 😉 . (jk me know nobody).
https://twitter.com/Monedula_/status/605452414607585280
There are some technical similarities between them, but Drew was the better player coming out of Purdue in college and it was only his height which prevented him from being a first round pick (he was a second rounder). If your question is geared more towards how Grayson projects to being able to become a Drew clone I don’t think anyone can do what Drew does the way he does it, however Grayson does project to fit Payton’s offense very well. I won’t make any bold predictions about him other than to say that he has all the tools he needs to be a very good QB in New Orleans. The rest is up to him.
Thanks for the great questions guys and as always feel free to respond in the comments section I try to always comment back whenever people do.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
