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Saints giving defensive end Alex Okafor chance to help with interior rush

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

The New Orleans Saints are still determining which of their edge rushers will be able to make the biggest impact this season, but as they search for methods to pressure the quarterback, coaches are looking at other ways for the defensive ends to get on the field.

Alex Okafor has worked as the starting right defensive end for much of training camp, but he's also moved inside recently in the Saints' "Nascar" package -- a substitution group with an extra dose of speed.

A defensive end rushing from the inside is hardly unique, but if Okafor or another edge player can make an impact on the interior, it could be of huge importance for the Saints, especially with top defensive tackle Nick Fairley out for the season.

Okafor gained some experience playing inside last year with the Arizona Cardinals, so this isn't a new look for him.

"I got some pretty good experience last year, and I'm just trying to carry that over," he said.

When Okafor moves inside in the sub package, Hau'oli Kikaha has replaced him as the starter on the edge. Rookie defensive end Trey Hendrickson also received some work on the interior before missing the past few practices.

"Inside when rushing everything happens ...

Finish the article here ...

K Major

Hopefully he stays healthy.

FWIW, Okafor really got the best of Khalif Barnes at last nights practice.

hagan714

gentlemen start your engines.

K Major

So far so good for Okafor.

The Dude

Good signings this year across the board. Teo is looking to be a great move too If our first round picks ever see the field this could be the best offseason so far.

dizzle88

As always, we have done far better with the multiple cheap low key signings, rather than going out and breaking the bank on one player like Byrd.

AsylumGuido

I know. Yet, every off-season there are fans complaining that we didn't sign the highest profile (insert position here) player on the market. It doesn't ever seem to work out when we do. Or very seldom.

spkb25

I remember posting about this and the fact that Green Bay pretty much always waits until the first round of high prices FA's go off the board before they start signing people. At this point we shouldn't be signing anyone high priced...the amount of dead money the last two seasons should be sign enough.

You build through the draft. Add some key players through FA, but you build through the draft.

AsylumGuido

The problem was that before Jeff Ireland showed up our drafts pretty much stunk.

K Major

Bump ...

Had to bring this thread back to life. Okafor has played well thus far. Not sure how he graded out last week vs Detroit but that strip sack & subsequent Vacarro score was nice.

Footnote worth mentioning:

Alex has had a sack in two of the last three games.
What will he do against a injury riddled GB squad?

Keep grinding.