Jon Stinchcomb was a surprise release from the Saints last night, ending his 8 year tenure with the team. Stinchcomb’s career hit it’s peak in 2009 when the Saints won the Super Bowl, when he had the best year of his career earning an invite to the Pro Bowl. Last year, playing through injury, Stinchcomb was clearly not the same player and the Saints decided he hadn’t done enough in the offseason to merit him sticking around. I have to admit, the little I saw of him in the 49ers preseason game was not impressive at all. He’s clearly not over whatever bothered him last year.
Besides losing a solid right tackle when he was at his best, the Saints are losing their longest tenured player and one of the most vocal locker room leaders. You often hear about Sean Payton identifying guys with character and commitment, and few embody those characteristics like Stinchcomb. All you have to do is listen to how his teammates speak of him to understand how valuable he is to the group. Certainly his performance has dropped, which ultimately made him replaceable, but it will be difficult to fill the void he’ll leave in leadership. Now 2/5ths of the dominant offensive line in 2009 are gone, and the Saints will feature Olin Kreutz and Zach Strief as their replacements, at least for now. Whether those two will live up to their predecessors is for another day, but they are certainly capable of doing so. Kreutz’ track record speaks for itself, whereas Strief has been a reliable and exemplary backup for years. Now Strief finally has his shot at being a regular player on the offensive line.
Stinchcomb was one of only three holdovers left from…
the Haslett era, and with him now gone the longest tenured Saints are Will Smith and Devery Henderson. Those are the only active guys on the roster that played under two head coaches during their time in New Orleans. What’s interesting about Stinchcomb is that like Strief, he waited a long time for his opportunity. Stinchcomb was burried on the bench for a long time, labelled “too light” and “needing bulk”. He spent three full seasons on the bench and many wondered how much longer the Saints would hold onto him before labelling him a draft bust. 4 years in, Stinchcomb finally got that desired “bulk” and turned himself into a complete NFL starting tackle. His greatest assets as a player will always be his intelligence and technique. He manned the right tackle position for the Saints for 5 strong seasons.
The Saints are saying that Charles Brown will battle Strief for the starting job, but I’m not buying that. I believe it is Strief’s job to lose. Reports have surfaced numerous times that Brown is just “not ready”, so the only way I see Strief losing this battle is injury or an absolute horror of a performance the rest of this preseason. Based on the body of work Strief has shown to this point, there’s no reason to believe the 6’7″ mammoth won’t seize this opportunity. God knows he’s waited long enough. Strief has actually been with the Saints 5 years, so he’s waited even longer than Stinchcomb, finally getting his shot going into his 6th season.
Thanks for the memories #78, we will miss you greatly. You were a great Saint and we were lucky as fans to watch you play. You’ve got my vote in the Saints hall of fame.
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