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There's nothing good about the news of Will Smith's season-ending knee injury.

Say what you will about what position he should have been playing in the New Orleans Saints' new 3-4 defense, he was still going to play a key role this year - especially in the wake of fellow outside linebacker Victor Butler's ownseason-ending knee injury earlier this summer. And the former Pro Bowler still had more left in the tank than some observers gave him credit for.

As I've written many times in defense of Smith this year against growing critics, his skill set as a power rusher and run defender was underrated. And ironically enough, he even had his best play of the summer as an outside linebacker in open space on Sunday against the Houston Texans - just a few minutes before he suffered the knee injury.

Then throw in all the intangibles about what a great leader and teammate Smith has been for a decade in New Orleans as the longest-tenured player on the roster, and it's an extremely tough day inside the facility on Airline Drive.

I'm not afraid to admit that I personally feel for a guy who's been a pleasure to watch develop into one of the franchise's all-time greats since I started covering the team in 2005.

However, I do believe the Saints can recover from losing Smith, and possibly even spin it forward in a positive way.

The Saints were going to move on without Smith at some point in the near future - maybe at the end of this season. So his injury just sped up the process a little bit.

The same thing happened when veteran defensive end Kenyon Coleman - a longtime favorite of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan - suffered a season-ending pectoral injury this summer.

And the same thing might happen with veteran linebacker Jonathan Vilma, if the Saints decide he won't be able to return to form this year after suffering another setback with his lingering knee injury earlier this month.

The Saints didn't go into this summer planning on a full-on youth movement on defense. But now it's happening, whether they like it or not.

And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Read more: UPDATED: Will Smith's injury will spark youth movement for New Orleans Saints defense | NOLA.com

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Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.