WhoDat!656

We have real safeties this year. It’s been bad for a long time. How bad has it been? Let’s recap:

2006: Omar Stoutmire, Roman Harper, Decrepit Version of Jay Bellamy, Josh Bullocks
2007: Roman Harper, Josh Bullocks (and Kevin Kaesviharn!)
2008: Roman Harper, Josh Bullocks (and Kevin Kaesviharn!)
2009: Roman Harper, Guy Who Was Good, But Is Now Rotting Away In an LA Prison Cell
2010: Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins
2011: Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins
2012: Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins
2013: Roman Harper, Malcolm Jenkins (and Rafael Bush!)
2014: Kenny Vaccaro, Jairus Byrd (and Rafael Bush!)

That’s right. This team started Roman Harper and Josh Bullocks at safety for three years. Outside of that one guy who was temporarily great for us in 2009, we haven’t fielded a safety that ranks above competent in eight years.

But, Who Dat Nation, times, they are a’changing. And by a’changing, I mean getting a whole lot better. Not only do we have Kenny Vaccaro, one of the finest rookie defenders of 2013, but we have an unheralded fella by the name of Jairus Byrd, and JAIRUS BYRD is for real.

But before we can fully appreciate the beauty of 2014’s starting safeties, let us remember our humble beginnings.

Hype Reel: Safety Reboot | B&G

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Jack Vegas

Ugh, Josh Bullocks. Might be the second-worst Saints player of that entire decade, right behind Jason David. Fred Thomas should sue Bullocks for helping to prematurely end his career.

Not that I loved Malcolm Jenkins, but he was miscast by our coaches. Guy consistently took bad angles and had no ball skills, but he was decent in man coverage and was good against the run. So naturally we put him at free safety. WTF.

Harper was a good player robbed of his speed by injuries. He gets a pass from me because of his smarts and toughness which helped us more than his weaknesses hurt us.

Bellamy was one of my favorite Saints in his time. Good and underrated player who did a lot of things well. Kind of the same for Stoutmire but we got him on the tail end of his career. Guy Who Was Good is probably a little overrated in hindsight. He got a lot of picks but how much of his gambling led to big plays for the other team? More than a few.

Crusader

You are forgetting Tebucky Jones...

Utah_Saint

Harper made the Pro Bowl in 2009 and 2010 and led the team in tackles and sacks in 2011. That's better than competent.

Danno

Funny, no mention of an invisible pass rush for the majority of those years. Very shortsighted article,

Jack Vegas

Bullocks was a much, much worse player than Tebucky. Tebucky would at least manage to be somewhere on the TV screen when the ball flew over his head.

speaking of, this guy is a senior now. 85 passes for 1,154 yards and five touchdowns in the Patriot League last year.

Fordham University Rams Athletics - Tebucky Jones, Jr. - 2013 Football

foreverfan

Damn... Its about freaking time... isn't it?