SmashMouth

There is no question that the golden days of New Orleans Saints football has to be measured from 2009-2013.

The 2012 season, in which head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the season, ended up being a 7-9 campaign, but when you add up the numbers in those five years, the Saints were 55-25 overall. They made the playoff four times, won four playoff games and won a Super Bowl title in 2009.

But when the core unit of those teams got old or left via free agency, the Saints failed to replace many of their key players adequately either through free agency or the draft.

What we saw was a parade of veteran players who were well past their football prime. There were players who didn’t fit the team, were looking for a payday and not wanting to be a strong locker room presence or a leader on the team.

During five drafts held between the 2010-14 seasons, the Saints have only defensive end Cameron Jordan, halfback Mark Ingram and offensive tackle Terron Armstead still left on the roster. They did re-acquire cornerback Patrick Robinson after selecting him in the opening round of the 2010 draft after he made his rounds through the NFL after leaving the squad.

Those whiffs resulted in three straight 7-9 seasons from 2014-2016.

But today we are looking at a totally different team and give credit where credit is due to the Saints revamped scouting department, assistant general manager/director of college scouting director Jeff Ireland, general manager Mickey Loomis and Payton in changing their look at how to scout players either from college or players already in the pros.

Coaching matters at any level of sports, but you are a lot better coach when you have really good players.

The major personnel change really started in 2016 when the Saints drafted defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, wide receiver Michael Thomas, safety Vonn Bell and developmental defensive tackle David Onyemata.

Thomas is a star wide receiver in the NFL today and Rankins has the earmarks of being a top enforcer and pass rusher from the defensive interior. And the Saints like the football growth and play out on the field of both Bell and Onyemata.

Throw in undrafted rookie free agents in cornerback Ken Crawley, tight end Garrett Griffin, wide receiver/return man Tommylee Lewis, defensive lineman Mitchell Loewen and cornerback De’Vante Harris, and that was a pretty good infusion of talent from one draft class.

The Saints also were able to get themselves a really good young placekicker in Wil Lutz after he was released by the Baltimore Ravens. Lutz was recommended to Payton by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and he has done an excellent job in a position that had been a revolving door of players for the Saints.

The Saints also signed veteran safety and special teams ace Chris Banjo after he was released by the Green Bay Packers and signed a couple of solid veteran linebackers in Craig Robertson and Nate Stupar during the NFL free agency period.

In 2017, the Saints hit the jackpot with arguably their best draft class of the 2000's when they drafted star cornerback Marshon Lattimore, a tremendous young right offensive tackle prospect in Ryan Ramczyk, a soon-to-be Pro Bowl safety in Marcus Williams, one of the most electrifying playmakers in the game in halfback Alvin Kamara, a solid starting weakside linebacker in Alex Anzalone if he stays healthy, one of the standouts in the 2018 training camp period in defensive end Trey Hendrickson and a potential talent in defensive lineman Al-Quadin Muhammad.

They were also able to land undrafted rookie free agents in offensive center/guard Cameron Tom, wide receiver Travin Dural, halfback/special teams standout in Trey Edmunds, cornerback Arthur Maulet and wide receiver-turned-tight end in Dan Arnold.

The Saints also acquired veteran wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., linebacker A.J. Klein, a really solid starting defensive end in Alex Okafor, linebacker Manti Te’o, offensive center/guard Josh LeRibeus and a stellar starting offensive guard in Larry Warford via NFL free agency.

And either before or during the 2017 NFL season, they picked up defensive tackle Woodrow Hamilton, IV, fullback Zach Line, long-snapper Zach Wood, halfback Jonathan Williams, safety/special teams headliner in Justin Hardee and veteran defensive end George Johnson.

The Saints also picked up wide receiver Austin Carr and quarterback/special teams standout Taysom Hill after the final 53-man cutdown date.

The rebuilding of the team for the present and future was settling in.

The 2018 offseason for the Saints brought them veteran offensive guard/tackle Jermon Bushrod, cornerback Patrick Robinson, middle linebacker Demario Davis, wide receiver Cameron Meredith, tight end Ben Watson, halfbacks Terrance West and Shane Vereen, strong safety Kurt Coleman, quarterback Tom Savage and defensive tackle Jay Bromley.

And it is early but the potential for more help from draft choices and undrafted free agents are there from the 2018 draft class.

You can see players in defensive end Marcus Davenport, wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith and halfback Boston Scott have the talent to make an early impact in some capacity and upward players like offensive center/guard Will Clapp, cornerbacks Kamrin Moore and Natrell Jamerson and hopefully down the road a developmental player in offensive tackle Rick Leonard will give this team some future building blocks to work with.

Ireland and his scouting department should be given a lot of credit in acquiring the proper talent to put this team back on the list of top contenders in 2017 with an 11-5 mark and a playoff win over the Carolina Panthers.

The way it works for the Saints front office is that Ireland and his scouting department comes up with the evaluations and projections for players and then passes it on to Payton and Loomis to make the final personnel decisions based on best fit for the team.

Changing the culture and talent on this team in 2016 and 2017 has and will pay off for the New Orleans Saints in 2018.

The Saints are in the hunt to a championship today, and you couldn’t have said that in 2016.

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Rugby Saint II

I have a man crush on Jeff Ireland.

K Major

"The major personnel change really started in 2016 when the Saints drafted defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, wide receiver Michael Thomas, safety Vonn Bell and developmental defensive tackle David Onyemata".

Agree completely.

Key pieces on both sides of the ball.

Barry from MS

The only problem I have with all that is that De'Vante Harris, "good", and "talent" are all in the same sentence.