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

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.town...ze=1200%2C1001

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 ...

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

Dennis Allen is once again using the defensive version of Payton's offensive philosophy ... versatility in personnel packages. With Vaccaro on the field along with two other safeties, a very common package, the offense will not know if he will being utilized as the traditional SS, a nickel, or even as a LB in base 4-3 set. That gives more versatility in defensing an offense with multiple set possibilities. Combine that with the versatility of the LB corps with the "cross-training" approach that Nolan is taking and the talk of a NASCAR package on the D-line using three DE's with Okafor moving inside, this defense could really surprise.

I am getting excited.

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

He's not all that. If he has to cover a #2 reciever without help, might as well count on him getting beat. A big TE with speed will eat him up. A traditional SS he is never going to be. I don't see what people see in Vaccarro, not a game changer before and want be now.

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

I respectfully disagree with just about everything in this post. I think he's been a bright spot on an otherwise horrible defense for the last few years. He's been pretty good in coverage for a SS and he's definitely not afraid to lay people out. He may not be the best SS in the league but he's not a liability. I'm pretty sure Matt Ryan watches out for him even when Vaccaro is on the bench.

But that's just my 2¢.

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

The vast majority of the safeties in the NFL can't cover a #2 receiver one on one.

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

Kenny has his limitations but he's a solid player. Will Von Bell make him expendable? Not if he's a necessary chess piece and we can't do better. Personally, I thought he would be a better player when we drafted him. He hasn't let me down but I had higher expectations.

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

Don't forget he started under Rob Ryan who managed to make every defensive player look bad and last year He was forced to play in a backfield with a different pair of CB's virtually every week. DB coach Aaron Glenn said something along the lines of communication being vital in the defensive backfield and that takes playing together regularly. He said much of the problems last season dealt with lack of communication.

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

4 years so far Kenny has shown little to nothing. I'll admit he did well enough his 1st and only good year in covering slot recievers and backs out of the backfield but thats about it, regressed 2nd, 3rd and 4th, stone hands and doesn't diagnose plays all that well. Being on a pitiful D sometimes makes a player(s) look better than what they really are. He's in his final year of his rookie contract and will be looking for big bucks, I in no way shape or form think he should even sniff a big contract with the overall inconsistant player he has been. Another question I have was it his actual play last season or the adderall buzzing him around? D+ player so far in my book.

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

The adderall was a one time mistake. He is now on the program and gets tested up to ten times a month year round. He is the least likely person on the team, next to Brees, to get busted for anything like that again.

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

How would you know if it was a one time mistake? Would it be because Kenny boy said? Not so sure about 10 times a month, thats every 3 days which is highly doubtful + if he took it before a game and didn't get tested for 3 days it's out of his system. I pee test all the time along with other guys, some clean, some dirty and EVERYONE, clean or dirty know how to beat a pee test. A 6,8,or 10 panel test would be no problem passing. Some even use other guys pee or synthetic to pass those test, unless blood is drawn, hair folicle, or spinal tap is done pee test are pretty much a joke. I do know a guy that was definately dirty that got by on a hair folicle by buying some kind of gel at a place called Claires.