The 2015 Saints need to be a ‘Barrel of Monkeys’. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about that’s understandable. I am of course referring to the children’s game where you take a large number of monkey shaped figurines and use their hooked arms to create a long linked chain of ‘monkeys’. The purpose of the game is to use one monkey to pick up another, and then use that pair to pick up the next, and so on and so forth. It might seem like a bit of a stretch at first, but at least to me the imagery invoked by the game is exactly how I hope the 2015 Saints end up being. They need to be a chain forged from different connections that encompasses a united whole…in other words I fervently hope that this year’s group is a damn TEAM!
Let’s start by taking a look at some of the connections that already exist on the team shall we?
‘Reser-South:
I keep using this moniker to describe the dome mostly because I think I am much more clever and witty than I actually am (most of us do), but also because it is a fact that several key contributors to the team’s success this year are my fellow Oregon Stat Graduates. Brandin Cooks, Brandon Browner, and Keenan Lewis are all former Beavers. You can debate how relevant that is, but since they all played under Coach Riley there WILL be some common stories and experiences for them that will make bonding as teammates easier. That’s very important to a team as having some kind of commonality between people is one of the simplest ways to form trust. Not only are all three Beavers, but they are also cut from similar molds. Each of them is known as an extremely hard worker who loves the game, expects perfection from themselves, and has the kind of hyper-competitive personality type that ruins family board games (seriously guys…I have lost friends over Monopoly). For Lewis and Browner in particular the connection will be important as they actually play together, but Browner having that connection with guys already established on the roster will give him that much more legitimacy in the locker room right off the bat.
THE CLEMSON CONNECTION:
Continuing our theme of guys from the same school the Saints have two players who are expected to have a major impact on the team this offseason, and both of them happen to be former Clemson Tigers. First the Saints signed free agent Running Back C.J. Spiller in the offseason to give Payton and Brees the kind of match-up nightmare they love so much. Then in the draft the Saints selected what I believed to be the best ILB in the draft in Stephone Anthony. While these two players never played on the same team I have to reiterate that simply being from the same university and coming from the same program is often enough to form a tentative connection between two people. Both Spiller and Antony had very successful College careers at Clemson and both are known as high character guys who can make a difference on the field. I’m not predicting they will instantly become the ‘best of chums’ right off the bat, but even just enough to break the ice and giving someone for Antony to go to right away could make the difference. The thing with ‘chains’ is that each connection is small, but all those little connections can make something pretty impressive in the end.
Hau’ and Kelemete:
The Saints really seem to enjoy bringing in guys from the same university (I know it’s a coincidence, but work with me here). I found it very interesting that when interviewed about who one of the hardest match ups he had in college was Saints 2nd round pick Hau’oli Kikaha singled out former (and current) teammate Senio Kelemete. Being that Hau’oli (or just Hau as he says we can call him) is expected to be a major part of an improved pass rush in New Orleans that is high praise. What makes it possibly more significant is that the Saints currently have a battle that will go on throughout the preseason between Tim Lelito and Kelemete over who will win the starting LG position. If a player of Hau’s caliber is signaling him out without being prompted then I consider that to be a very good sign that the Saints may have unearthed another Gem. Only time will tell, but let’s hope that both of our Huskies make the team and make an impact this season.
OTHER CONNECTIONS THROUGH TEAMMATES PAST OR PRESENT:
I am one of those people who loves making things way more complicated than they need to be and who loves to find the ‘hidden meaning’ in everything. It certainly drove my Poly Sci professors up the wall at times and I am sure some of you are already rolling your eyes at me (perfectly understandable). However, I really do believe that a lot of these connections are going to be important to the ‘team building’ process that is occuring within the Saints organization even as you read this. Many of the greatest architectual marvels of all time are nothing more than a series of small connections made over and over again. That is exactly what a ‘team’ is.
We know that Jairus Byrd and C.J. Spiller were former teammates, and thanks to Larry Holder we also know that they are close enough that when Payton called Byrd to ask about Spiller…they were actually hanging out together. Apparently Sean asked Byrd to ‘go use the bathroom’ according to Holder’s report (available on Nola.com). As I already mentioned Keenan and Browner have been teammates before, but Browner also knows Kenny a little bit because of his relationship with Earl Thomas (they were College teammates). Jahri Evans knows Max Unger a little bit from their time together at the Pro Bowl (he also said he works out with some of his former teammates), and even Vaccaro and Cooks had built some mutual respect in college from playing against each other. It was Vaccaro who reminisced about how he ‘almost blew a hamstring’ trying to defend Cooks in college when asked about the draft pick last year.
OK…SO WHAT?
The point of all of this is not to point out how there are going to be a hundred little small ‘clicks’ within the Saints locker room. It’s exactly the opposite. Virtually all of the team’s new additions are connected to someone on the roster in some way (even Andrus Peat who Cooks could ask former teammates about because ORST played Stanford). These small little connections can serve as ice breakers and bonding points between teammates who otherwise are thrust together and expected to form a coherent ‘team’ because the organization decide they fit well. I believe that having a common goal and a sense of unity is the greatest method to building a sense of unity, however to truly build a high level of trust with someone takes time. But when someone you already know and trust is there to vouch for ‘the new guy’ it can definitely expedite that process.
The hard part of the Barrel of Monkeys game as a kid wasn’t getting two or three of the monkeys connected, it was getting the whole dang barrel connected using just the monkeys to do it. The longer the chain became the harder it was to keep it in control while still adding more connections. That’s usually how it is for a team as well. However, it’s a lot easier to make a large chain if instead of picking up all the ‘monkeys’ one by one you are instead combining ‘groups’. I have no idea if the Saints did this by intent or if I am just reading into something that doesn’t even exist, but i do honestly believe that the fact that many of the Saints players have both past and present connections to one another will be of great benefit to the team as a whole. If they can develop a true sense of unity and become a TEAM in the truest sense of the word, then maybe, just maybe, they can make 2015 a season to remember.
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