jeanpierre

jeanpierre

saintfan

1. Center
2. Left Guard
3. Right Guard
4. Left Tackle
5. Right Tackle

Because I got a feelin' those 5 are going to be the difference between sucking or not sucking.

jeanpierre

For five players on the proverbial "bubble," this is the pivotal third pre-season game; the players below need performances where their play "jumps out at you on film" so as to give the coaches those "remember me moments" when deciding on the 53-man roster...

Five on the Bubble:

DE/OLB Davis Tull - started out with a Payton red-shirt year; needs to find a way to mate his skills to Allen's scheme; while a poor fit (that blame rests on D.A.) Tull has rare athleticism that could overcome a poor scheme fit...

NT John Jenkins - worked his arse off to disprove critics who labeled him as a big giant of lazy; had an outstanding rookie season followed by set backs with injury and being asked to change style of play from a 3-4 NT (for which he was drafted) to an inside 0/1 tech DT...

WR Brandon Coleman - when your head coach describes your play as "pedestrian" and he scowls how much he dislikes the way you catch the ball - you've got problems River City; Coleman has the physicality to be a beast, but his hands and head are letting him down...

KR Marcus Murphy - a 2015 draft pick who surprised with his Sproles-like speed/burst, has continued to have problems with putting the ball on the ground; if he can learn to secure the ball, he'll be special; if not, he gone...

(Updated, Completed)

FB Austin Johnson - the signing of John Kuhn might be seen as the end of Johnson's run with the Saints; the thing is that Johnson not only is a good fullback, he's important in the kick coverage as he also was a LB at Tennessee; but his knee is keeping him from participating...

(Dis)honorable Mention

CB Damian Swann - either he's still got health issues or he didn't get the memo with the release of Keenan Lewis, but if Swann doesn't get outta the tub and get on the field, he may find himself looking for employment; remember, Coach Payton wants his players to be "Available"...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

K Major

Even with the blunders/fumbles/muffs etc, his game is electric & Marcus has vision (often times you can't coach this gift). Imagine this guy getting cut by the Saints, then goes to a div rival & finds a coach to correct his "fumbling/hand to eye coordination issues" & subsequently gashing us TWICE a year. I can't see Sean cutting bait after 1 season.

The others you mentioned ... 50/50 chance.

JP, I only see 4 players listed. Who is the 5th?

jonnyrotten

Murphy needs to be cut before the game even starts.

Rell&Gold

Stop It

WillMacKenzie

I think we have to be careful of bias. We can't let what ifs cover our eyes to a fatal flaw. Especially in fairness to the team that works so hard, that buys in, that sacrifices everything for the win. A locker room can go south when you lose -- and giveaways translate directly into losses.

It's not like these players have something nobody else has, the others in the league are just sacrificing that little extra athleticism for ball security. Marcus and Brandon are the opposite, sacrificing ball security, for that little extra bit of freedom (which looks great until it bites you, which happens to be a BIG BITE in the NFL).

I think this issue of being able to fully trust some guys is one of the reasons that Sean has kind of shied away from being that brash coach we all got used to in recent years.

jeanpierre

Updated, my bad

QBREES9

Let's get the O rolling!!!!