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Hicks trying to find his comfort zone with Saints

METAIRIE — As an NFL rookie, and a third-round draft pick at that, Akiem Hicks has two things going against him as he tries to find his comfort zone in the New Orleans Saints’ locker room.

Hicks is not only the new kid on the block, he’s from north of the border.

No, not Arkansas. Try farther north, like Canada.

“I can’t get away from it, I’m the Canadian guy now,” a smiling Hicks said Thursday. “They call me the ‘Canadian Kid.’ But it’s all right, I can take it.”

At 6 feet, 5 inches and 324 pounds and possessing an impressive 84-inch wingspan, it’s unlikely that he’ll have to defend himself from any of his teammates — especially on the defensive side of the ball.

And after what he’s been through the past five years, a little name-calling isn’t going to get Nicks down, either.

Actually, the well-traveled defensive tackle isn’t originally from Canada. He comes to the Saints from Elk Grove, Calif., with stops in Sacramento, Baton Rouge, Denver, and finally, the University of Regina.

“He’s a new guy, so you always have to take your shots at them,” said Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, a five-year veteran. “That’s just part of being a young guy in this league. But it’s rare to see a guy get drafted from Canada, so we’re kind of poking fun at him a little bit.”


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BIGEASY504

Sedrick Ellis, a five-year veteran could be on the bench due to the Canadian Kid!!!

Rugby Saint II

It's the last year of Ellis' contract. He may become expendable. Which is OK with me. He has really under performed on his contract. We moved up to get him too. It's disappointing really.

Danno

Canadian kid?

The only reason he stepped foot in Canada was because of NCAA eligibility issues.

The kid is as far from being Canadian as I am.

FinSaint

Yeah, and he only played 2 years at Regina if I remember correctly, so he didn't even play his whole collegiate career in Canada.

As for Ellis, he might just have this one more year to prove his worth as a player, and if he can't perform in a contract year and under a DC who is generally known as someone who's schemes favor the front 4 - he'll be gone.

Rugby Saint II

The players that prove their worth in a contract year didn't prove anything to me. 3 out of 4 sub par years doesn't cut it with me.
If he never plays another down for the Saints I'll be fine with that. If Spags feels that he has the attitude and the skill then I'm ok with that. He knows talent better than I do.(I hope)

FinSaint

I do agree with you Rugby, but I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because if my memory serves me right, he did have a pretty good 2010 season - nothing stellar, but his best one with the Saints.

Also, it just might be that the coaches he has worked under - primarily Gibbs and GW - haven't been able to extract 100% out of him, but maybe he'll be able to surpass his previous seasons under Spags.

Who knows, and it certainly is alarming if it is just a matter of him not having had the required effort under the previous DCs, but if it is more because of the DT schemes - which could be the case since all DTs have pretty much sucked during this time period - then there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for Ellis.

Anyway, I'm still hopeful, and I'm still pulling for him to make an impact, but the fact that he is being payed as much as he is, is a concern because that cap space could be used in a more meaningful way - Brees being the obvious choice.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno