K Major

Wait, let me expound on why Harper 'sucks'.

You can't seriously sit here and say he is above average, can you? Mainly plays on blitzes and big hits within 7 yards of the LOS, which kind of makes his range a joke. There are 3-5 plays every week in which he's a total liability to the D and gets exposed. How many 7 million dollar players fit that bill? His best season came next to Sharper for a reason. We are paying him pro-bowl money to be a run stopper and blitzer, which he is better then average at, but not great. We all know he is one of the worst coverage safeties in the league. He's like the JERRY JONES of the Saints ...Horrible play = "I think I played pretty well today".

Are you ok with that?

FinSaint

Would you care to back that up with actual evidence, because someone here posted stats a year ago - maybe Danno - according to which Harper had performed pretty well in situations where he had to drop back.

The stats were from a site that requires a membership, so I can't look them up for you unfortunately.

Danno

It was two years ago and I think Papz posted it. He was rated 3rd best DB in the NFL at covering TE's. Not 3rd best safety, but 3rd best DB.

He and Jenkins graded out very badly this past year, along with every member of our defense. Lofton, Vilma, Hawthorne, Robinson, and Greer ALL finished near dead last at their respective positions.

The only respectable grades were Bunkley (our best grade), Jordan and Galette. Everyone else was horrible.

blackangold

Pay attention to the second paragraph and keep in mind this was in GW schemed defense which apparently some of the posters claim he was the 3rd best cover safety. We all saw the results this year and can agree he sucked in 2012, but read bellow to examine just how 'good' he was in GWs defense.

"Roman Harper will be highly ranked as an IDP going into the 2012 season, and upon first glance that may seem legitimate considering he led his team in both tackles and sacks in 2011. However, you may want to think twice before drafting him early. Remember, Spagnuolo isn’t going to use him like Williams did. Before 2009 when Gregg Williams joined New Orleans and started using Harper like a linebacker, his stats were less impressive. In the two years Harper started pre-Greg Williams, he averaged 89.5 tackles, 2 sacks, and 1.5 interceptions per season. In his three years starting under Williams, he averaged 98.3 tackles, 3.67 sacks (7.5 last year) and 0.33 interceptions per season. Moreover, Harper went without a single interception in three of his five years as a starting safety (last year included) and has recorded only one interception over the past four seasons.

Pass coverage is by no means Harper’s strong point, as rushing the QB clearly is. In fact, Harper achieved the lowest pass coverage rating among all Saint’s defensive backs (-8.4) , according to PFF’s defensive ratings, and was just 0.3 points away from being worse than all their linebackers too. Additionally, he received the 3rd worst pass coverage rating among all starting safeties in the league, complementing his overall rating that was also good for 3rd worst among all starters (-14.9). For comparison’s sake, Harper had an inferior pass coverage rating to three of the four patriots starting defensive backs, beating James Ihedigbo by just 0.2. Considering how terrible the Patriot’s pass defense was all season, that’s an accomplishment."


https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...-isnt-sharper/

Pretty tough evaluation of his cover abilities. Not only was he the worst coverage DB for the saints, he was worse than all but one of our LBs... lol

Ranked by PFF to be the 75th best safety... not worth a dime in my book.