New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Article New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Cornerback Preview

What do Josh Freeman, Tony Romo, and Matt Ryan have in common? Besides being quarterbacks that I despise, they all threw for over 400 yards against the Saints defense in 2012.

The good news is that the Saints won all three of those games. As a matter of fact, the Saints defense allowed 8 opposing quarterbacks to reach the 300 yard plateau in 2012, but the Saints won 5 of those 8 games. However, the Saints scored 30+ in all 5 of those games and won 4 of them by a touchdown or less. One could easily say that if the Saints offense didn't pick up the slack in those 4 games, we could have possibly been looking at a potential 3-13 season instead of a disappointing 7-9 campaign.

When analyzing what went wrong with the Saints defense, you would not be incorrect in saying that the team simply did not buy in to Steve Spagnuolo's defensive system. But some Saints fans point directly at the secondary and the inability to stop anyone in a opposing team's uniform.

Ugh, revisiting 2012 is painful. New defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is here to change all of that. It is possible that the Saints decide to keep ten members of the secondary. The question is, how many corners and how many safeties? So let's take a look at what he has to work with in 2013.

PROJECTED LOCKS AT THE CORNERBACK POSITION:

As part of the top ranked pass defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Keenan Lewis led the NFL in pass deflections in 2012. He was rewarded with a 5 year, $26.3 million contract this offseason and hopefully will become the #1 cornerback for a defense that is in serious need of a play maker. While he did not have an interception in 2012, the New Orleans native is in the prime of his career and is expected to do great things for the Saints in 2013.

What to watch: Will Keenan Lewis become the play making cornerback that the Saints expect him to be? That ZERO in the interception column is a bit alarming, considering how often he was able to get his hands on the ball in 2012. Lewis seems like a confident guy (as most cornerbacks are), predicting a pro bowl appearance that never came to be last season. But after one full season of significant playing time, our new cornerback showed that he does have the tools and the potential to be exactly what we need to improve the pass defense in 2013. Here's your opportunity to be the man Keenan, don't screw this up!

Read more: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Cornerback Preview - Canal Street Chronicles