Danno

Saints | McKinnon Has Interest - from www.KFFL.com <http://www.KFFL.com>
Tue, 24 May 2005 12:18:53 -0700

Jeff McIntyre, of the Times Daily, reports free agent LB Ronald McKinnon (Cardinals) has said that the New Orleans Saints would be one of two likely teams he would play for in 2005.

# 57 Ronald McKinnon

Position: MLB
Height: 6-0
Weight: 246
Born: 09/20/1973
College: North Alabama
NFL Experience: 10
Undrafted

Pro Career Last 5 years...

2003: Posted double-digit tackle totals six times with 83 solo tackles, 63 assists, 136 combined stops, 13 tackles for loss—all team-leading torals … added 2 quarterback sacks, 6 hurries, 3 pass deflections, 1 fumble recovery, and 2 forced fumbles in 16 starts at middle linebacker … also logged his 100th career start and 125th career appearance.

2002: Started all 16 games and led club in tackles for fourth consecutive season … 150 tackles (85 solos), 7 quarterback hurries, 4 tackles for loss, and 3 pass deflections … also appeared in 100th NFL game (vs. Dallas, Oct. 20), made 500th career solo tackle (at Seattle, Sept. 15), and notched 1,000th career total tackle (at Philadelphia, Nov. 17).

2001: Irrepressible in the middle once again with team-best 190 total tackles (99 solo), 2 quarterback sacks, 5 hurries, 6 tackles for loss, 4 passes defensed, 1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 forced fumble … also scored first career points with interception and fumble returns for touchdowns … five games with 15 or more tackles, 10 with at least six solo stops.

2000: Only member of Cards’ front seven (linemen/linebackers) to start all 16 games … team-best 131 solo tackles, 77 assists, 4 quarterback sacks, 8 tackles for loss, 4 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery … 208 combined tackles ranked second to safety Pat Tillman (224) … 14 double-digit tackle efforts, including 11 consecutive outings (games three-13).

1999: Established franchise record as first Card to surpass 200-tackle plateau with 223 total tackles (106 solos, 117 assists) … 106 solo tackles just one shy of team record of 107 by safety Lorenzo Lynch (1994) … double-digit total-tackle efforts in 14 of 16 games, including the first 10 outings … double-digit total tackle totals in first 10 games and 14 of 16 overall, including five games with 15 or more stops … embellished record-setting tackle total with 1 quarterback sack, 5 hurries, 5 tackles for loss, 4 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 forced fumble.

saintswhodi

Not attempting to be negative, but what happened to 2004?

Danno

Good question. I didn't notice that. Injury?

saintswhodi

2004 Arizona Cardinals 16 74 49.0 25 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0

Those are his 2004 stats from NFL.com. He at least played in all 16 games. So I dunno. Seems suspicious they would omit an entire year, unless that info is from last year?

saintswhodi

According to game logs on NFL.com, he started 10 of those 16 games he played in. In his best game she had 9 tackles solo. No sacks, no INTs, No FFs. He was strong for years before that. Maybe he has hit the wall? Can't hurt to have some vet leadership for this youngg roup though, if nothing else. Kinda like Jay Bellamy.

papz

He was an upcoming young player when he started out with the Cardinals. But injuries and lack of talent around him made him regress from a once promising career. I'm not surprised at all he is interested in the Saints now because this is probably one of the only teams that would give him a chance to compete for a starting job. But this isn't the same McKinnon from years ago, but it wouldn't hurt to take a peek at him. It couldn't hurt taking a peek at the bagboy at the local supermarket if he looked like he could help us win.

saintswhodi

I'm still for Kevin Hardy or Peter Boulware personally. But hey, at least SOMEONE who isn't already on the team is saying they wanna play for us. Potentially washed up or not.

blackwidows

Heres the stat sheet just incase your intrested.
http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/3937

Danno

Its curious kinda.
We have Watson, Fincher, and Ruff at MLB. Are they bound and determined to axe Ruff? Or do they plan on playing a MLB at SLB? Fincher at SLB perhaps?

We have 13 WLB's on the roster already. They need someone who can play the SAM much more than another veteran MLB or WLB.

Look, am I missing something? It seems to me that the GLARING weakness on our LB crew is at SLB. Allen did improve and does look promising, but it still seems to be a questionmark and his back-up is Sedrick Hodge. Hodge has had 4 years at SLB to prove himself and he's done just that. Proven that he's probably not gonna get much better than what he is now.

Whats with all the signings and attempted signings at MLB and WLB? Is SLB the least important LB in a 4-3? Or maybe we have something up our sleeves with this Cable Rohlof kid we got from the Ravens.

blackwidows

Ok I must say Allen improved where other than tackeles he has 33 last year. Bye the way Cobly Bockwalt wears #57 right now if Ronald Mckinnon is added what number do you think he will wear. It's also intresting that the Saints don't have a #24 on the roster this is number is usually filled bye runningbacks or cornerbacks though.