44Champs

He's a monster w da Bears #1 defense

XLIV CHAMPS

K Major

Hindsight is 20/20.

It's amazing to me how time distorts perception. I see people mentioning Akiem Hicks a lot now. It's true, they (Hicks/M Jenkins) are really good players now but they were not giving maximum effort with the Saints. Both have talked about dedicating themselves to the game after they left. How were we to know they would decide to start trying hard and become awesome?

WhoDat!656

Bears Pro Bowler Akiem Hicks reflects on his fallout with Saints

“In our defense at the time, they were trying to put him on an edge and be more of a speed rusher as opposed to using leverage and hands and power,” Vilma said. “That wasn’t really his thing. It was frustrating. I’m like, this is silly. I loved when he would bull rush. I would say, ‘Just do what you do best. We’ll figure it out with the coaches.'”

https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2019...bowl-position/

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

K Major

^^^^^ in response to the above post ...

Hicks wanted to play the 5-tech and be the star and as long as Jordan was here, that wasn't happening. That's why he was traded.

Sour grapes.

SaintSproles

Terrible coaching we had for way too many years and it's really a GD shame Payton had to wait until 3 straight losing seasons and the thought of losing his job to make changes.

Hicks was a casualty of that rather pathetic era.

Crusader

Because he was underperforming for whatever reason.

FinSaint

He didn't fit in Ryan's scheme, and possibly didn't want to adapt his playstyle to fit that scheme as per Vilma's quote.

He was my #1 DT for the Saints in that draft and I was over the moon when they picked him - disappointing he didn't reach his potential in the black & gold.

K Major

Hicks didn't fit Bill Belichick's scheme either.

It took 3 teams before the light came on.

Rugby Saint II

Some players need a change of scenery to make them question their future and commit themselves more now that nothing is handed to them.