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New Orleans Saints outside linebackers Martez Wilson, Junior Galette and Parys Haralson know people think their position group is one of the glaring question marks on their team this year.

Pardon them if they disagree.

Six days away from hosting the regular season opener against the reigning division champion Atlanta Falcons, Wilson, Galette and Haralson on Monday all insisted they were well capable of splitting up the work at outside linebacker in their team’s 3-4 defense if that’s what their coaches need.

“We’re not rookies. It’s not like this is ... our first rodeo,” said Wilson, the Saints’ third-round pick in 2011. “We’re ready for Sunday with no hesitation. We’re excited. Even having three outside linebackers, that just gives us a better rotation, more playing time.”

At the same time, the Saints hinted they’re prepared to deploy some alignments that deviate from a strict 3-4 scheme, such as ones that include four defensive linemen and more defensive backs than usual.

Wilson, Galette and Haralson are the only outside linebackers listed on the 53-man roster the Saints unveiled Saturday, a scenario coach Sean Payton on Monday acknowledged was “less than normal” for a team adopting a 3-4 defense.

Without elaborating, Payton said “there will be movement” at the bottom of the Saints’ roster, possibly implying that players on the fringe of the team’s ranks may be cut to swell the numbers at outside linebacker.

Wilson and Galette started the preseason expecting to compete for playing time at outside linebacker with Victor Butler and Will Smith, but Butler tore an anterior cruciate ligament in June, and Smith did the same in the team’s third exhibition in August. Smith is out for the year; the same could be true for Butler, on the physically unable to perform list for now.

Wilson (elbow) and Galette (leg) missed all of the preseason games, and the Saints made a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for Haralson a day after losing Smith. Haralson played in a 3-4 scheme with the 49ers but sat out the Saints’ fourth and final exhibition.

Some questioned whether it made sense for the Saints to enter the season with a trio of outside linebackers who had not played a snap for the Saints in the preseason. But Monday, the trio brushed off such doubts.

“I played three preseason games with San Francisco (this year),” said Haralson, who was selected by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2006 draft and had 21.5 sacks in his time there. “They didn’t come get me from a bar somewhere. I was ... playing football and practicing.”

Haralson’s path to New Orleans began when he engaged with Denver Broncos tight end Joel Dreessen on a running play during an exhibition in 2012. Haralson tore a triceps tendon and missed the season, and he became expendable when 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith subsequently set a franchise record with 191/2 sacks.

Haralson said it was “nice to come to a team where you feel like you’re wanted.”

“(The Saints) have got some young guys that are very talented that I understand are still learning the 3-4,” Haralson said. He added that he looked forward to doing whatever he could to help out Galette and Wilson, who previously played defensive end for New Orleans, transition to linebacker.

“It’s a process that I went through,” said Haralson, who played defensive end at college in Tennessee.

Read more: Saints linebackers ready to answer questions | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

SmashMouth

Nice to see Parys already contribute.

dizzle88

Tez and Galette must be healthy enough for week 1 then seen as we only kept 3 OLB's

K Major

I think this Parys guy has 'smashmouth' written all over him. No pun intended SmashMouth.

DISPLACEDFAN

Questions are fine but I hope there ready to tackle and make plays

The Dude

im just worried about injury. If either Gallette or Wilson go down it will be like we are left with half a linebacker. Neither one are every down kind of guys.
Lber and special teams will be our achilles heel and will determine weather or not we make it into the post season.

DISPLACEDFAN

I think our season rests on a 5 or 6 week stretch starting with (Dallas, SF, @ATL IN 11 DAYS) @Seattle ,CAR,@STL granted STL isn't a power house but we have struggled against them. How we handle that stretch is crucial cause all are conference games, as a matter of fact our last 8 games are all conference games so how handle those 6 0f 8 games I think will be the key to our playoff hopes

TheOak

Answer all the questions on the field by covering the middle and shutting down offenses... if they can do that there really isn't much else to question.

|Mitch|

Actually; Haralson was an every down backer for the 49ers. And I believe, he's better in coverage than anyone we have at LB. Pretty stout in the run as well, hope he doesn't have any lingering circumstances with the past torn triceps...

saintsfan1976

Stop Atlanta on 3rd down, win the game.