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The New Orleans Saints haven’t had enough time to figure out exactly what they have in Stephone Anthony.

Not in 15 padless practices.

A middle linebacker like Anthony can’t be properly evaluated until he’s fighting off offensive linemen and crashing into running backs.

But the early returns have been good. Working almost exclusively with the No. 2 unit during minicamp and organized team activities, Anthony picked up the defense quickly, made several plays in the passing game and often looked right at home moving at the NFL’s accelerated pace.

“I think the game, it’s not very fast for him,” defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said. “He’s been really well-coached in college, he understands football, he loves football, so he’s learning at a very quick rate, and that’s awesome. That you can see with no pads on.”




Read more: Early returns have been impressive as Saints rookie Stephone Anthony settles in at middle linebacker | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

hagan714

hate to put undo expectations on the kid but if this pans out he could be the heart and soul of the saints LBers with in a couple of years.

Rookie of the year candidate on defense for the saints? maybe just maybe if the he preforms of course. But will rob sees it and uses it? it is the later i worry about the most.

Been a while since a LB has me all pumped up for the season.

Rugby Saint II

I know the kid is going to be good, but I really thought Ellerbe would be running with the 1st team by now.

alleycat_126

It was something different out of a Saints draft...in recent memory. The right pick, at the right time. Im pretty sure he would have not made it to the second round. To me its just to early to put any kind of unnecessary pressure on the kid. He has seasons, and seasons to be the MAN on the defense. This whole season is just about making the game slow down so you can play fast and not think to much. I think he winds up starting, but not right away.

foreverfan

hagan714

The one thing that sticks out to me about Dannell Ellerbe contract is zero dead money for 2016 and 2017. floundering trust by the saints?

foreverfan

Damn... I could do this all day.

saintsfan1976

Funny.

We've waited so damn long for a talented LB the media is salivating over his OTA "performance"...

Wake me when when there's live tackling.

dizzle88

OTA's have proven that Anthony is fast and smart enough to play coverage, he intercepted and defended a bunch of passes there.

Training camp will show how he is in a live tackling situation.

Danno

Skepticat?