Is there anything interesting in this article?

I can't read it from EU.


I'm still carrying the torch for this guy - I hope he can have a injury-free season.

The first four picks were just about perfect. Marshon Lattimore and Alvin Kamara swept the NFL's Rookie of the Year awards; Ryan Ramczyk established himself as one of the game's best young tackles; and Marcus Williams turned in the best season a free safety has had in New Orleans in years.

And the fifth pick might have been able to make a similar impact if he hadn't gotten hurt.

"There are some other players in that class, too, that we're excited about," Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said on the eve of training camp. "How does Alex come back from his injury?"

Alex would be Alex Anzalone, the linebacker the Saints plucked out of Florida with a third-round pick.

Anzalone, like the other four, opened the season as a starter, and he recorded 16 tackles, a sack and a pass defended before dislocating his shoulder early in a win over the Miami Dolphins in London on Oct. 1.

The shoulder — a joint he'd injured twice in college — is now repaired, a fix Anzalone fully believes will hold. He found out his injuries stemmed from the repair done on his shoulder when he first injured his shoulder as a freshman at Florida.

"It's good to see him back out, obviously, being healthy," fellow linebacker A.J. Klein said. "He was disappointed last year with his shoulder injury, and sometimes that's just how the game goes. He's obviously made a lot of strides since his rookie year."

Anzalone returns to a linebacker picture that got even more crowded in the offseason. One week into training camp, he has taken most of his snaps behind free-agent prize Demario Davis, who can play either weakside or middle linebacker but has lined up almost exclusively at the Will, Anzalone's natural position in the New Orleans defense.

That picture could still change; the Saints say their linebacker competition is still wide open.

"Everyone wants to start," Anzalone said. "If we rotate, we rotate, and if you play, you play. You have to play your role and know where you can contribute."

Anzalone's best case for playing time during this training camp has been made when he's matched up against Kamara, one of the best route-running backs in the NFL, in coverage during practice.

Kamara, who caught 81 passes for the Saints last year, has won his share of the battles, but Anzalone looks far from lost in coverage against his 2017 classmate. On the contrary, Anzalone has broken up passes to Kamara in each of the past three practices.

"Obviously, he's a great player, a great route-runner and a mismatch on linebackers," Anzalone said. "It gets you better."

Anzalone's sideline-to-sideline speed and ability in pass coverage has flashed two or three times per practice, not only in coverage against Kamara, but also dropping down the seam, where he has made plays on a daily basis against running backs and tight ends, including a highlight-reel interception in a 7-on-7 drill Monday.

"He’s extremely athletic. He’s long. I think ... when we look at the college tape, you see a lot of linebackers playing in space, and he was one of those guys," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "But he has good size and he's smart, so those instincts I think are extremely valuable."

Anzalone is the kid of the group of experienced linebackers competing for a starting role.

But he doesn't feel like it. Already comfortable with the Saints' scheme a season ago, Anzalone spent his rookie year learning that the rest of the NFL is not as complicated as it's made out to be.

"Everyone runs the same type of stuff, it's just a matter of different tweaks here and there that you do," Anzalone said.

As a rookie, Anzalone often focused on his own role within the Saints' defense; as a second-year player, he spends most of his time thinking about how the offense is trying to attack him.

"You learn a lot — not necessarily about what you're doing, but more about what offenses are trying to do to you, how they're trying to space you out, where their mismatches are, what adjustments you can make off of where you feel they have a mismatch," Anzalone said.

Make all of those adjustments, and Anzalone can play even faster than his natural instincts allow.

And that might give him a chance to join the rest of his draft class as an impact playmaker for these Saints.

Is there anything interesting in this article?

I can't read it from EU.


I'm still carrying the torch for this guy - I hope he can have a injury-free season.

Thank you guys!

The Advocate website is the only one I've really come across that doesn't want to comply with the new EU privacy laws - it is up to the website AFAIK.

T-P works as usual, but the Advocate doesn't.

I can’t wait to see a healthy, Anzalone next to Demario Davis. I think they’ll make Klein look like we wanted him to.

+1. IMO Davis and Anzalone are two of the most athletic LB's on the Saints roster. If Anzalone can stay healthy, I'm predicting Pro Bowl type production in 2018.

Try to keep that in mind with the shares for you...