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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.