My first article focused on two players who would be an excellent fit for the Saints and the player who I believe is the best possible get for the team. (Trading up to 20 to keep Cooks out of Philly wouldn’t surprise me) Today’s post is about three guys who while excellent prospects, I believe would be wasted on the Saints team: Dee Ford, Kony Ealy, and Kelvin Benjamin. Remember that while I am saying these guys are not part of my ‘big 3’ prospects that should be at the top of the team’s list, that doesn’t mean that they are in any way not deserving of a first round pick. I forgot to mention it in my first article, but the three guys who I think we should want the most are Cooks, Shazier, and Roby.
Mr.Dee :(my nickname for him you can come up with your own stupid moniker) Ford is an absolute beast of a human being. Jadaveon Clowney might be getting all the hype, but as far as incredible athleticism at the end/olb position is concerned Ford is the closest thing to his clone that exists in this year’s draft. Honestly a case could be made, not a good one mind you but a case nonetheless, that the only difference between these two players is one made a running backs head popoff… and one didn’t. Ford stands at 6-2 252 and ran a blazing forty time of 4.59 which is fantastic for a man that big. Ford is a raw talent who has shown himself to be productive in college, but projects to be a situational pass rusher in the league. Ford has tremendous burst and explosion off the line, but he lacks the kind of size and power to hold the line against tackles and be a true every down player. He also lacks the fluidity and movement necessary to be a true 3-4 olb who can drop in coverage and also play the run. Because of these flaws, and more importantly because of ‘fit’(yes we’re back) I really hope that the saints don’t draft Dee Ford in the first round. What Ford represents is another Junior Galette with the same flaws, but without the proven NFL production and coming at a higher price with higher expectations. Would I love to get another explosive player in a vacuum? Of course. But, for this team this year Ford isn’t what we need, the Saints had one of the league’s best pass rushes last year and already have the talent on the roster to reproduce, or even exceed, that production. The ‘legits’ love putting our guys down but our defense as a unit finished fourth overall last year and is still growing, we don’t need redundancies we need to shore up our few weaknesses as well as reinforce our strengths of which situational pass rusher is not one.
Kony Ealy: Of all the Rush Ends and the OLB style prospects I have seen projected to the Saints Ealy is easily the most intriguing. While I would rather we didn’t spend our first round pick on what would amount to a luxury pick up at this point, Ealy has such a tempting blend of size, power, speed, and instincts that the saints may not be able to resist. He stands at 6-4 and weighed in at 273 yet still ran a 4.92 forty; what that tells us is that he has not only great burst, but that at his size he can continue to accelerate. Ealy was exceptionally productive in college and at times showed the kind of fluidity and athleticism that would indicate he could play OLB and do it well in the NFL. The only reason I am not as high on him as I might otherwise be is that I’m not sure the ‘fit’ is there for the Saints and if one of the players who I believe make the best fit for the team is there at 27 I hope the Saints pass up on him. That said Ealy as a prospect looks like the meeting place between Dwight Freeney and Ahmad Brooks (you know the guy that thinks a clothesline is a form tackle) he has great footwork and balance like Freeney, but a little bit more versatility and the ability to drop back at times like Brooks who plays OLB for the Whiners. I am in no way claiming he will be either of those great players…but the potential is certainly there.
Kelvin Benjamin: Benjamin has been projected to the Saints for many reasons; his measurable, the fact that fans think he is similar to Colston, fans remembering our red zone struggles last year, and also I’m sure his performance in the National Championship game didn’t hurt. Let me be clear here, I don’t have any problem with him as a prospect and if the Saints do decide to pick him I will probably be seen wearing his jersey around town shortly. However, as seems to be the theme for many of these prospects the fact that he is a GOOD prospect doesn’t mean he is the BEST prospect, and that is the purpose of these posts, to find who those few guys are. Benjamin is an absolute monster physically; he stands at 6-5 and 240lbs, which makes him basically a really fast tight end. (Interesting complement to Jimmy who is basically a really big wide receiver) Benjamin’s 40 didn’t exactly set the world on fire,(4.61) but honestly except in rare cases like Megatron, the forty isn’t as important for the bigger wideouts. The issue with Benjamin is that while he possesses some great qualities…he doesn’t have anything the Saints don’t already possess. The team has three receivers with comparable size in Colston, Toon, (I will get to him in an upcoming post so save the hate guys he isn’t as bad as you think) and of course the all-world tight end known as the ‘Graham Reaper’. What the Saints offense really needs right now isn’t a possession guy who’s best attribute is as a red zone threat…not in the first round at least. What the team needs is a receiver that coach Payton can move around and use to create match ups that allow Drew to hit whoever is open and surgically remove the opponents chances of victory pass by pass. To that end we need the one thing that the team doesn’t have right now and that isn’t a part of Benjamin’s game…we need explosiveness. (My previous post outlined our two best options in the first round for that.)
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