bignic26

Here's a fun fact for those of you who don't follow Bama football or know alot about Roman Harper.

While in high school, Roman was so good at reading and reacting to plays that it appeared as if he either knew what play was coming or he predicted what was coming. By all accounts it was uncanny how quickly he could diagnose a play and then proceed to blow it up. After seeing this unreal ability day after day, Roman's defensive coach started calling him "The Prophet" because he seemed to be prophesying the offensive plays.

The nickname stuck all through high school, then college and soon you'll be hearing commentators telling that same story someday when Roman is reading and blowing up plays on TV. Notice I said "when" instead of "if", I'm not on Roman's level in terms of predictions, but this is a no brainer, Roman Harper WILL BE THE DEAL in the NFL.

BlackandBlue

i believe it.....

i also believe he was still a reach in the 2nd round.

BiggPoppaFro4

lol BnB...good post bignic....I think he'll work out fairly well. If anything it cuts the sting of losing a guy like Mitchell.

bignic26

Of course he's a reach in the second. He's not a known big name guy. Everyone thinks he's a reach, except for Loomis or whoever made the pick and people who know his game. The Saints saw the same things those of us who have watched the guy over the years have seen week in and week out. Roman is not the best at any one aspect of the game, but he is solid in EVERY aspect of the game. Being solid all around will allow him to be a good starter in this league.

Roman Harper isn't a beast in the box against the run or an extra CB playing safety against the pass but he is a player who is solid at defending both but not spectacular at either. It's all about what kind of safety teams like and need.

In this case I didn't think we needed a slow head hunter type of SS such as Greg Blue from Georgia or Bernard Pollard from Purdue. We didn't need a fast, weak FS type like Pat Watkins from FSU either. I thought we needed a young S to couple with Josh Bullocks who could cover the run and pass with equal effectiveness. Guys like Donte Whitner, Jason Allen, Daniel Bullocks and Roman Harper can play either FS or SS thus bringing more value to a team. I went into the draft saying that if indeed the Saints really were shopping Dwight Smith around, we needed to pick up a young safety due to the fact that Bellamy is 83 yrs old, Omar is washed up, and who knows which Bryan Scott will show up for us. The playmaker he was early on or the liability he was last season for the Falcons.

Anyway I would have been happy with any of the four FS/SS types I mentioned above if they were a good value pick. Do I think Roman was a good value pick, no. Due to his lack of a big name we could've got him later. Having said that though, it's obvious the Saints didn't want to take a chance on him being there on day two.