The latest news at the beginning of the weekend to hit the Saints in a negative way was the loss of veteran cornerback Kyle Wilson for the season. Wilson has been placed on IR and replaced on the roster by DT C. J. Wilson. Wilson is a vet himself, 29, that’s played as a spot sub for Packers, Raiders and Lions. He seems to have caught on and been a rotational player everywhere he’s gone so this is a decent pickup coming into camp. I imagine Wilson will compete well for a roster spot.
The loss of Kyle Wilson, though, is one that can’t be overlooked. He joins Hau’oli Kikaha and Jamarca Sanford as contributors on the 53 man roster last year that are all already out for the season. Of the three, Kikaha is the one still on the roster, presumably because he’s getting additional medical advice and the Saints are weighing the possibility of designating him as an IR with return possibility. In all likelihood, though, Kikaha will be officially announced as done for the year soon as well.
Losing Wilson hurts. It’s common for fans to dismiss the value of players that get injured, suggesting they are not necessary to the roster. But every time you lose a competent cornerback, you’re one injury closer to suffering through watching a cornerback that’s incompetent. You guys have watched Fred Thomas, Jason David, Patrick Robinson, Corey White and Brandon Browner the last few years… it’s not fun. I’ve read many of you suggest the Saints are in good shape with Delvin Breaux, Keenan Lewis, P. J. Williams and Damian Swann. But the reality is corners get nicked up more than almost any position due to their size and the Saints will be lucky if one of those four players play 16 games. Wilson played in 15 games last season, starting 4, so coming he was one of the durable and reliable ones. Now? The best recent bill of health corner in the top four is the one that once broke his neck.
Need examples of corners going down? As impressive as the Saints were in 2009 defensively, they suffered injuries to Malcolm Jenkins, Tracy Porter, Randall Gay and Jabari Greer during the course of that season. That was their top 4 corners. At one point, they picked up Chris McAlister and Mike McKenzie off the street, practically out of retirement, and started them. They even put free safety Usama Young out there at nickel despite the fact that he had never played the position. Last year, those four players listed as top 4 currently played a combined 28 games out of a possible 64. That’s less than 44%. So injuries are going to happen and teams are only as good as their 5th and 6th corners in coverage. That was Kyle Wilson, a guy we knew could be physical and give decent coverage despite his limited size, but now it’s Brian Dixon and maybe De’Vante Harris. I know a lot of you love Harris’s potential, but I would be terrified to see him out there in an important game. It’s not that Wilson is a fantastic player or ever lived up to his 1st round draft status. It’s that we knew he was better than most out there as a #5 corner. We don’t know that with Dixon at all.
I’m willing to go as far as to concede the loss of Sanford may not be as significant. While he was a good backup and a solid special teamer, the signing of Roman Harper and the renewed depth at safety (Vonn Bell and Erik Harris as backups) put the Saints in a position to absorb that happening. The fact that it happened before training camp is still rough, though. I suspect Harper coming to the Saints had to do with that injury, as they needed someone with experience to fill in for Sanford’s vision and role. Kikaha and Wilson, on the other hand, figured to be guys that would make the 53 man roster and play. I’m not sure you can find a guy on the open market at this point better than the guys they just lost, in fact I’m highly skeptical. Not having them at all in 2016 makes one of the worst defenses in NFL history in 2015 worse. Now the Saints did add a number of valuable pieces in James Laurinaitis, Nick Fairley, Nate Stupar, Craig Robertson, Sheldon Rankins and Harper. That should, hopefully, improve the overall state of this defense. Kikaha and Wilson were guys that had rare bright spots on an atrocious defense last year, though. Not guys you want to lose. Losing them before training camp is even under way is an especially tough blow.
Let’s just hope this rash of pre training camp defensive injuries is a fluke and not a sign of things to come.
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