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Saints cornerback Ken Crawley consistently making plays in training camp

By Josh Katzenstein jkatzenstein@nola.com,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

No cornerback on the New Orleans Saints roster has made more plays consistently throughout the first eight training camp practices this year than Ken Crawley.

In many ways, it feels like deja vu because Crawley was a standout performer in training camp last year, too, when he made the 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie out of Colorado.

However, as impressive as Crawley was last summer, his strong play didn't completely transfer to the field during the regular season. He was so close to making the game-changing plays he'd been making in practice, but in the NFL, a cornerback making a mistake by an inch can result in a huge play for the opponent.

Now, Crawley is hoping to show he's learned from those struggles as he competes for a role on the Saints' defense.

"I took some growing pains last year, and now I'm prepared and just anticipating what's going to be there and learning the different types of routes, concepts that's going to hurt our defense and the type of defense (we run)," Crawley said of how he's using his experience last year to help him now.

To say Crawley has been the Saints' best cornerback so far in camp isn't a stretch, but it does deserve some caveats. Delvin Breaux is dealing with an injury that caused him to miss two practices, and he was still limited on Friday. First-round pick Marshon Lattimore has missed the past three practices. And plenty of other cornerbacks are making plays in what has been an intense week of practice.

But, each day, Crawley is making a strong case to be a factor on defense. During Monday's practice, Crawley had at least four passes defensed in team drills. He followed that day with at least one interception in team drills on Wednesday and Thursday.

"He's done some really good things," coach Sean Payton said. "I think he's playing with a lot more confidence. Obviously, he's a year into the system now. He can run, and he's long, and those are good traits for a corner."

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“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill