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saintsfan1976

Good point. My argument is Rankins was never MEANT to be the guy who powers through double teams. He was SUPPOSEDLY to have Fairly beside him.

Rookie season w Fairly - 4 sacks in 9 games.
Soph season w/o Fairly - 2 sacks full season.

But get him in a one on one and he’ll create way more pressures.

K Major

Rankins played a lot of DE or 3 tech (outside G) towards the end of the season due to injuries. Puts his head down and goes after it. Just because he doesn't put up "All Pro stats" after year 2, doesn't mean he hasn't been effective.

Plug in tape. He's only going to get better. Wait and see on Sheldon.

jeanpierre

Until the production improves, Rankins is looking like Sedrick Ellis 2.0...

That said, I still like this line as the best in the Sean Payton era - look at this:

2009/10 Superbowl Championship Team vs 2018 Training Camp Roster

'09 DE 93 - Bobby McCray, 96 - Paul Spicer
'18 DE 94 - Cameron Jordan, 90 - George Johnson/70 - Mitchell Loewen

'09 DT 98 - Sedrick Ellis, 69 - Tony Hargrove
'18 DT 98 - Sheldon Rankins, 93 - David Onyemata

'09 NT 92 - Remi Ayodele, 90 - DeMario Pressley
'18 NT 95 - Tyeler Davison, 99 - Jay Bromley/96 - Woodrow Hamilton

'09 DE 91 - Will Smith, 97 - Jeff Charleston
'18 DE 92 - Marcus Davenport, 57 - Alex Okafor/91 - Trey Hendrickson/97 - Al-Quadin Muhammad

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

K Major

Have you watched Deuce Windham's film study & breakdown of Rankins in 2017 by chance? The guy is hardly Sedrick Ellis.

saintsfan1976

That’s harsh JP. And inaccurate my man.

jeanpierre

Proof's in the production and so far, it's just not there...

saintsfan1976

Define “production”. You’re equating sacks and pressures alone and I’m saying it’s not that cut and dry.

However Sed did get 6 sacks in year three but never played DE

Utah_Saint

Ouch? PFF graded him at 80.7. As a frame of reference PFF ranked Dontari Poe in their top 20 free agents this year and he graded 81.5. Just my opinion but that sounds a lot better than "struggling".

They also graded him as an above average DT. Sheldon Richardson also got graded as an above average DT. Maybe it's just me but that doesn't sound like a lump of coal.

While, I'm not saying he never got rolled or couldn't hold the line but I don't remember it happening very often and I do remember him getting doubled teamed a lot.

And, I think, DA moved him to DE to try to find someone that could set the edge after all the injuries. Allen had had the luxury of having a couple DTs capable of holding the middle. Rankins even dropped into coverage a few times last season.

Even though 2 sacks is pretty meager, he also got 9 qb hits (tied for second on the team with Okafor), 24 qb pressures, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 sack in the playoffs, a forced fumble and an interception. He started off last season slowly but it seams like most of the team did.

He's only played a season and a half, I don't see any reason why he won't keep getting better.

K Major

I guess we can look @ grades, stats & in some instances film study by our resident "experts" but Coach Dennis Allen, Nielson & Sean P have a much better handle on an ascending player such as Rankins.

That's enough for me . Training camp awaits.