triman

Terrible pass coverage and poor interior line play were the main causes of the Saints poor season in 2014. To their credit the FO took bold and somewhat drastic measures to correct their glaring deficiencies.

The secondary was shored up with the signing of Browner ,and Delvin Breaux.. The drafting of Swann,Williams ,and addition of former first rd pick Kyle Wilson.
I'm hoping that safety Jarius Byrd return to health and the form that got him a tremendous salary and PRO Bowl status is forthcoming. Bush and Sunseri add quality depth. High draft pick Stephen Anthony ,Daniel Ellerbe and Anthony Spencer should provide improved coverage by our LB Corp that also struggle to cover. Third year safety Kenny Vaccaro is an enigma to me,how do you regress some much from such a promising rookie season to the stinker of a year he had in his second season. We spent two picks on pass rush LBs ,Kiakaha, and Full,and added Spencer to bolster our anemic rush production of last year. Our front defensive line need to improve from the anemic effort of the past season.The signing of Kevin Williams should be more of a bolster to our run defense than the pass rush.John Jenkins fulfilling his promise he showed as a rookie is kind of a wildcard going into next season.I had high hope for him going into last season and hope a year of healing injurywise will help him be the player I had hoped for. Their are several second year players and UDFAs that might claim a few snaps and contribute. It is going to be On be interesting to see if Rob and Dennis can shape these new guys and vets into a effective squad.

On the Offensive Side adding a Elite Center and First rd pick should improve our line. The losses of Graham and Stills will have to be replaced by Brandon Cooks and CJ Spilller. Colston showed a decline in production and needs to return to form especially in the Red Zone where Graham was so effective. Josh Hill will surprise some people this season IMHO. It's time for Toon to deliver on the tease he shows in pre season and make game day contributions. Two promising Practice squad receivers ,Brandon Coleman and Sentavious Jones has generated some hype in OTAs. Let's hope that they deliver . At RB Mark.Ingram I think will build on his best season .I think we will see Peat and Strief in the three tackle Jumbo formation an we will commit to a more balanced approach by running more.K. Robinson will get his carries and CJ Spiller will fill the role that Sproles was so dangerous at both on reverses screens and outlet throws. I think that with a healthy Drew Brees a better Line and balanced attack our O will be fine .

Special Teams will have a better group of players to contribute . KR is an area that we need to improve. Spiller was very effective returner in College. Payton has said that he will use CJ in the return game .J.Sanders was effective returning punts and probably his best chance of making the roster. Cooks has the speed to be a threat but not a factor in the return game last year.Rookie
Mark Murphy was drafted on his return ability.

Training Camp cannot get here soon enough for us. WHO DAT.

hagan714

get ready for the over used catch phrase

just need time to to gel.

WhoDat!656

No injuries!

foreverfan

Great post but all teams feel great this time of year. I'm still not over last years preseason predictions to feel good about this one.

Sad to say we wont know until October 15th at the earliest. Until then, I'm just an observer.

saintfan

SmashMouth

saintsfan1976

Competition breeds excellence.

This year's TC has competition at every position.

Yes, it in fact will "take time to gel"... but with the simplified playbook on defense, I expect they'll gel by week 4 of preseason.

foreverfan

SmashMouth

Halo

Everyone said we needed change and beefed up o-line and d-line. We definitely have change a lot, the o-line is overloaded with new and veteran talent, and we shuffled, traded and cut where we could.

Only place I'm not sure about is the d-line, but with the addition of drafted linebackers and safeties in the Rob Ryan 3-4 I think there will be some new wrinkles.

Player performance at all positions on defense, except a few, was uninspired and poor in 2014, which is in stark contrast to 2013. This is a make or break year for Rob Ryan and his scheme in general in New Orleans. Defense repeating the uninspired play from last year will get Ryan canned.

That said, if Drew actually has time in the pocket with a beefed up o-line, defense will only need to be average.