FinSaint

Sure, but that wasn't the point.

The point I was trying to make was that Spags didn't exactly know what "tools" he would have - taking into consideration who they'd be able to get via FA and draft - and he didn't know if those "tools" that were already there would indeed fit his particular "toolbox." And he probably thought that he could get more out of some of the guys, but they might not have responded to his coaching in the way he thought - that could be also something that was brought about by the Bountygate atmosphere and the fact that key personnel were suspended.

I'm not a coach, so I don't know this for sure, but I would think that it's very difficult to accurately make the evaluation based on film and reports whether or not a player will fit into a certain system if it is different than the one he has been playing in most recently. I would think that you need to put those guys on the field and observe them playing in the system to really see if they fit or not, and whether or not the system needs to be changed to better suit the players.

Now, on that last point I do think Spags dropped the ball, because he didn't or couldn't adjust his system to fit the Saints defensive roster, but that is a different point than the one I was referring to earlier. Spags was most of all brought in to implement his system and not to fix the weaknesses of the existing defense, and maybe that mindset had him wait too long to adjust his system to fit the players better - because he was expecting the players to adjust their playing styles to fit his system.

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