Finding Barrett Ruud
 

Modified: Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 12:20 a.m.
Give the New Orleans Saints scouting department major props for landing former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Barrett Ruud last week.

In their preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Saints' linebacking depth was almost completely wiped out due to injuries.

While middle linebacker Curtis Lofton, who is probably the biggest free agent acquisition in the NFC, expects to return to the lineup by the first regular season game against the Washington Redskins, the Saints have no depth behind him due to the knee injury to David Hawthorne, who might miss a regular season game or two, and the season-ending knee injury to Chris Chamberlain.

Ruud's play has not been at the high level mark set in Tampa due to injuries and he has been beaten out twice by rookies the last two seasons in Colin McCarthy and Bobby Wagner, but there is no questioning his football instincts, his ability to get to the right angle of pursuit, his solid open field tackling skills and his ability to drop back in coverage well.

Landing Ruud for a late-round draft choice as an insurance policy was smart, and you have to give Saints director of pro scouting Ryan Pace credit for finding the wily veteran on the NFL radar when it was obvious this football team needed a veteran presence in the middle.

In a time in which the Saints lost not only the best coach in the history of the team, but also the best talent evaluator they have ever had as a head coach in Sean Payton, it is obvious that the scouting skills of Pace and director of college scouting Rick Reiprish have not gone unnoticed.

Finding Barrett Ruud | HoumaToday.com

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

I think Ruud played well against the Texans, especially when considering that he didn't have much time to get acclimated with Spags' schemes and the other defensive players.

He showed some great vision on a couple of plays, the one where he darted through the middle to tackle the RB for no gain comes to mind, and he moved pretty well on the field in general.

I did like him as a player when he was with Bucs and, in fact, I was kind of hoping the Saints would have made a play for him before he ended up in Tennessee, so I think he's going to be a pretty good depth guy going forward. And, most importantly, it's pretty clear that Spags wanted him as an insurance policy, so he must have seen something in Ruud which he liked and because of which he felt that Ruud would do well as the Mike in his D - that alone makes me feel alright about this move.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

If anything, Ruud is going to give us a lot more depth than the team has seen at linebacker in years once the other guys come back healthy. Lofton, Hawthorne, Ruud, Shanle, and Casillas make up a pretty decent corps. Who knows what is going to happen with Vilma, but if he remains suspended then they may need to look for one more player on the outside. I'm not sold on Humber.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

Don't forget Will Herring who has started a few games in the preseason, and has played quite well after the disappointing first season with the Saints where he was injured more than healthy.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

I forgot all about Herring.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

I know I'll get shouted out of the thread, but who noticed the totally amazing defended pass that SS had before getting a ridiculous flag from the replacements? I don't think I've ever seen him make a play before.
Ruud will at least be able to provide the veteran leadership for short periods of time.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

It's still preseason, so don't get carried away! :-D

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

WHOA! I never said we should put him in and see how it pans out. He still needs to burn. I was trying to say that he finally made a play. But it was in preseason. And a flag negated the play.

Re: Finding Barrett Ruud
 

Shanle had a nice tackle that stopped a Texans RB two or three yards behind the line of scrimmage. I honestly couldn't tell if that was Shanle or Urlacher. :p