He's a 'rock' star: Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro is adding another item to his responsibilities

AsylumGuido · 08-09-2017, 08:20 AM

He's a 'rock' star: Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro is adding another item to his responsibilities

BY NICK UNDERHILL | NUNDERHILL@THEADVOCATE.COM
AUG 8, 2017 - 2:54 PM

Aaron Glenn doesn’t want to put Kenny Vaccaro in a box.

He wasn't referring to the area of the football field known as the box, where the Saints safety has built a reputation as one of the better safeties in the NFL. Glenn, the Saints' secondary coach, meant the figurative box: He and the coaching staff do not want to limit themselves by thinking Vaccaro can only do one thing. They want to keep the lid open for new possibilities.

One of those is coming to fruition at training camp: Vaccaro has started to log snaps at free safety, which might be the last item left on his checklist. If you look at his list of responsibilities from last season, there were times when he played strong safety, nickel cornerback, linebacker and as a pressure player.

So, it would be all but impossible to put Vaccaro in a box, because the options on how to use him are already seemingly limitless. Adding free safety to the menu just creates more options.

“We want him to be an all-around safety,” Glenn said. “For him to be as effective as he can be, he has to be able to play back deep. He’s been doing that better.”

Don’t expect Vaccaro to stop doing all of the things he did last year to piece together what might have been his best NFL season before being suspended for the final four games. He’s still going to be moving around the box, creating havoc for the opposing offense. What this tweak means is that the Saints will just be a little bit more flexible at safety.

When the team shows a two-safety shell with Vaccaro playing alongside rookie Marcus Williams or Vonn Bell, it will allow the players to be more interchangeable. At the snap, either player can drop deep or move down in the box, making the defense harder to read.

But this job is mostly new to Vaccaro. He has played almost exclusively in the box in New Orleans, the lone exception being when he played deep in a two-safety look at times during the 2014 season. So he’s trying to do everything he can to learn the spot and ...

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08-09-2017, 08:20 AM	#1
AsylumGuido 10000 POST CLUB Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bossier City, LA Posts: 26,574	He's a 'rock' star: Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro is adding another item to his responsibilities He's a 'rock' star: Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro is adding another item to his responsibilities BY NICK UNDERHILL \| NUNDERHILL@THEADVOCATE.COM AUG 8, 2017 - 2:54 PM Aaron Glenn doesn’t want to put Kenny Vaccaro in a box. He wasn't referring to the area of the football field known as the box, where the Saints safety has built a reputation as one of the better safeties in the NFL. Glenn, the Saints' secondary coach, meant the figurative box: He and the coaching staff do not want to limit themselves by thinking Vaccaro can only do one thing. They want to keep the lid open for new possibilities. One of those is coming to fruition at training camp: Vaccaro has started to log snaps at free safety, which might be the last item left on his checklist. If you look at his list of responsibilities from last season, there were times when he played strong safety, nickel cornerback, linebacker and as a pressure player. So, it would be all but impossible to put Vaccaro in a box, because the options on how to use him are already seemingly limitless. Adding free safety to the menu just creates more options. “We want him to be an all-around safety,” Glenn said. “For him to be as effective as he can be, he has to be able to play back deep. He’s been doing that better.” Don’t expect Vaccaro to stop doing all of the things he did last year to piece together what might have been his best NFL season before being suspended for the final four games. He’s still going to be moving around the box, creating havoc for the opposing offense. What this tweak means is that the Saints will just be a little bit more flexible at safety. When the team shows a two-safety shell with Vaccaro playing alongside rookie Marcus Williams or Vonn Bell, it will allow the players to be more interchangeable. At the snap, either player can drop deep or move down in the box, making the defense harder to read. But this job is mostly new to Vaccaro. He has played almost exclusively in the box in New Orleans, the lone exception being when he played deep in a two-safety look at times during the 2014 season. So he’s trying to do everything he can to learn the spot and ... Read the rest here ...
	“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill