SaintPauly

I'm closing in on ya strat, so yeah, 34 is definately an age I wouldn't mind being at again.

stockman311

New Orleans Saints: Does Darren Sharper deserve the franchise tag?


It's easy to make the case that the Saints need to lock up Darren Sharper. His arrival last summer coincided with a dramatic upswing in the quality of the Saints' pass defense, which finished ninth in DVOA. Sharper tied for the league lead with nine interceptions, scored three touchdowns -- and had nearly twice as many yards on interception returns as anyone else in the league. Oh, and then the Saints won the Super Bowl. Throw in his veteran leadership, his age (35 in 2010), and the looming uncapped year, and it makes sense to give him a one-year, $6.5 million deal to return for another season.



Once you start examining those points, though, cracks begin to emerge in the foundation. For one, correlation is not always causation. While Sharper was undoubtedly an upgrade on the Tebucky Joneses of the world that came before him, another player arrived in New Orleans this offseason: Jabari Greer. Quietly, Greer emerged as an elite cornerback when he was healthy; more notably, when he was absent, the Saints' pass defense declined dramatically. The Saints had the third-best pass defense in the league when Greer was in the lineup, but they fell all the way to 20th when Greer was out. Sharper was in the lineup for all but two of those Greer-less games, and could do little to stop the rot; the facts suggest it was Greer, not Sharper, whose arrival turned the defensive tide.



As for the nine interceptions? Sharper's unquestionably a ball hawk, leading all active players in career interceptions, but that doesn't mean he's good for nine again. He's had two other nine-pick seasons, 2000 and 2005; he averaged only five interceptions in the subsequent two seasons. That's not just a Sharper thing, either; from 1990 to 2008, there were 25 instances of a player picking off nine passes in a given year. In the season after their huge INT run, those defenders averaged fewer than three interceptions. Not a single player managed to get nine picks in back-to-back seasons. Five would be a much more realistic target for Sharper's 2010, and that's not anything to write home about.



Against the run, Sharper's average at best. It's unfair to pick one play and use it as an example of a player's ability, but go watch that 26-yard run from Joseph Addai in the Super Bowl again. The Colts' halfback embarrassed Sharper with a juke in the open field, and it wasn't the only time Sharper was made to look feeble this year. Whoever signs Sharper this offseason will be paying for last year's interception total, Greer's excellent play and a reasonable amount of veteran leadership. Of course, if veteran leadership was so important, the Vikings probably wouldn't have let go of Sharper in the first place.

CantonLegend

yea.....it hurts to have starters out....DUH.....the genius that wrote this needs to take a step back and think......of course greer was great.......of course he helped us a ton.......and of course when he got hurt we werent as good....oh and porter got hurt......and we lost a LB for a few games......and we lost our starting NT and our DE and we had 2 guys off the unemployment list starting for us at corner

but that probably had nothing to do with it

yea....9 INTs is a lot......maybe teams like to take notes after those seasons and NOT THROW THAT WAY as much.......its pretty obvious that if a guy picks off passes like that and can return them for TDs from anywhere, that i would stop throwing towards him. sharper has had 9 INTs in 3 seasons.....so clearly he can put up that kind of production

in fact.....he averages over 5 INTs per season so he is capable of putting up solid numbers every year

sharper had only 1 INT last season so maybe teams started to actually believe he was over the hill.....thats easy to tell by his production early in the season.....but like i said before.....teams stopped throwin at him later in the season and his production declined.....isnt the threat of him sometimes just as good as the actual production? i think so

yea the one play that he had his head down......nobody can tackle the ball carrier if they cant see them

and the veteran leadership thing? it probably had nothing to do with jared allen entering his 6th season

i know sharper was a true vet......but the vikings are a proven defense with solid vets all over the place......the saints have one of the youngest secondaries in the league.....it didnt have the veteran leadership

"deal with it or you can go play the saints and get trounced by 30 and you won't have to worry about it."-colin cowherd

Saint_LB

On the flip-side, it's certainly not an indication that he has slipped any. 9 is a big number when you are talking single season INT's.

But you're right...he'll probably only get 7 or 8 next season.

stockman311

I doubt he gets 5 given the level of QB we play this year vs. last year. That is if we "choose" to resign him. He'll have to get off crutches first though.

saintfan

Somebody stole his kwan

homerj07

I think we re-sign him

BUT not at 6.5 million!!!