Ideally a team would like all of its players to improve each year, even first ballot hall of famers like Drew Brees, but back here in reality we’re going to look at 5 players who both need to step up and can. To me a player ‘stepping up’ isn’t just about putting up better numbers, but playing within yourself, playing smarter, and affecting your role within the team in a positive manor. Some of these guys are new players to the team who’ve been here a couple of seasons at the most, but it also applies to vets. If I really wanted to I could probably go into detail on how two dozen Saints need to ‘step up’ this year for them to reach their maximum potential. However, that would be a ridiculously long article and lets be honest here…NONE of us have enough patience to watch me go on and on all day.
Without further ado here are five guys who if they step their games up can give the Saints a chance to get back to the post season:
3: P.J. Williams
Williams was arguably one of the biggest steals in the entire draft last year when the Saints got him in the 3rd round. Williams is a hard nosed confident corner who had tremendous pedigree and a demonstrated will to win. He was largely considered a late first round prospect before a few foolish decisions cost him draft placement (and millions of dollars). Williams went out with a lower leg injury last year, and based off of multiple reports as well as our own conversations with The Advocate’s Nick Underhill on the podcast was a recipient of the annual Sean Payton ‘redshirt treatment’. Make no mistake about it though, Williams is healthy and has the potential to be a major factor for the team this year.
Why though is he on this list when realistically he should be considered the 5th corner on the team? Keenan Lewis is the starting number 2 behind fast rising star Delvin Breaux. Damian Swann showed himself to be a real gamer, and Kyle Wilson was a competent back up last year. Why then is Williams so important for the team some might ask, and my answer to that is upside. Williams has the toughness and gumption to play the run, has the ability, albeit unproven at this level, to be a lock down corner, and he’s a leader. If you go down the list of things that make a good corner in the NFL Williams is going to have most if not all of them checked, however he’s also an unproven commodity. That is why he will need to step up and become not a ‘could be’, but an ‘is’. Coaches have a saying: “potential gets you fired”, and for the Saints to have a shot this year Williams will need to prove that he is much more than mere potential.
The reason that this is so important is that Swann is an ideal nickel corner who can play on the outside if needed, but while Lewis (if he’s the Keenan we remember) is a kind of scary number 2, he’s also never not gotten hurt while in New Orleans. I WANT to believe that Keenan will be able to give the Saints 16 games because it would help give them a potentially elite secondary, but unfortunately his track record says that won’t happen. Williams is needed as a back up if nothing else, but he has the ability to possibly become the team’s starter by years end and THAT would be a huge difference for the team.
2: Stephone Anthony
Anthony had a very good rookie year, and when you consider that he ended up playing most of the year with basically the same amount of NFL experience as the rest of the linebacking core it looks even better. The injuries to Kikaha and Ellerbe at different points in the season increased the burden on Anthony and at times clearly stressed his ability to simply play the game. Anthony is a tremendous athlete and there were times last year where he flashed the ability to simply physically dominate his competition. The Saints haven’t had a linebacker capable of doing that in a very long time, and the presumed position change should help him do that.
What the Saints need from Anthony is a ‘beast unleashed’, who simply flies all over the field. You won’t see James Laurinaitis on this list because I don’t expect him to step up, merely not to suck. However, he might also be one of the biggest keys to the Saints have a defensive resurgence not by his own ability, but by freeing up Anthony to become a heat seeking missile on the field. Anthony has all the physical and mental tools to become a true difference maker for the team, and they desperately need him to make a big leap in his second season in order to see the defense improve. If Anthony isn’t able to adapt to his new position and become one of the catalysts to the defense quickly it is going to seriously hamper any effort to field a quality defense (yes that is actually possible), but if he does it can have a huge impact in combination with their other moves.
1: Brandin Cooks
Now I’m sure you are all shocked to see Cook’s biggest defender and Saints Nations only Cook’s super fan (go Beaves) say that he is someone that the team desperately needs to ‘step up’ his game. Don’t be, because this isn’t an indictment on Cooks, but a statement of my confidence in his ability. Brandin quietly had a very strong year last year in his first season as the teams number 1 wr, but if the Saints offense is to return to juggernaut status they will need him to follow the same patter he had in college. In his freshman season Brandin showed flashes of what he could be, but he was still young and was only used as a rotational player. By his sophmore season he was part of one of the most dynamic duos in college football with current Stealers wr Markus Wheaton, but it was year 3 where he emerged as a veritable force of nature. Cooks won the Belitnikoff award his junior season before getting drafted by the Saints by figuring out what kind of player he needed to be and polishing his game to best take advantage of his gifts.
Cooks needs to have a similar evolution in his 3rd year in New Orleans. Now I’m not saying he should, or even can, go after Randy Moss’s TD record or anything like that, but he needs to become an every down, every game threat that opponent’s have to game plan around. Cooks has the ability to become the ultimate chess piece, and there were signs last year that the chemistry between him, Drew, and Payton is approaching critical mass. It’s time for the alarms to go off, the countdown to start, and Cooks to EXPLODE onto the scene and establish himself as not only a weapon, but a Star. He has the ability, but it’s up to him to take that final step. If he can do it, it changes everything about this offense.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
