For Pierre Thomas, it’s Tracy Porter. For Marques Colston, it’s Sedrick Ellis. But for Nola Chick, the selection for most exciting/favorable Saints rookie hasn’t been easy. Sure Porter and Ellis are the easy choices, but what about our soon to be full-time kicker, Taylor Mehlhaff? And are there any sleeper studs out there, as in a Pierre Thomas of the rookie class, who will wow us all come regular season and make the Saints front office look like geniuses? (Or is it genii?)
So who’s the one to watch? Who’s the one to shake things up? And who’s the one who will be most deserving of a homemade Nola Chick t-shirt? Below we break down the potential studs, duds, toss-ups & sleepers of the Saints’ rooks.
The Good News: This defensive tackle from USC could do for the Saints what Mario Williams did for the Texans. It’s no wonder the Saints moved up in the draft to snag him. In his senior year, he racked up 12 tackles for a loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks, 7 deflected passes and 2 fumble recoveries.
The Better News: He’s shown consistent improvement each year at USC.
The Big Number: This dude can bench press 500 pounds. (That’s like 5 of me when I’m on the “Mary-Kate Olson” diet.)
The Scary Thought: There are major concerns he can hold his own against a physical blocker.
The Good News- His 4.37 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine tied for the 10th fastest.
The Better News- If he can hold his own, he’s just what the Saints needed to plug up the holes in the secondary.
The Scary Thought- He achieved Aaron Brooks like success on his Wonderlic Test by tying the record low score. He scored a 4 people….a four.
The Good News- He finished his career as Wisconsin’s second-leading scorer in school history with 295 points.
The Better News-He’s kinda hot and guaranteed to fill out that jersey a lot better than Grammatica.
The Scary Thought- While he demonstrated tons of accuracy in college, he didn’t show a lot of range. In other words, anything over 45 yards is definitely shart worthy.
The Good News: He made this one handed catch against Florida
The Better News- Nothing could be worse than what we got out of Meachem…right?
The Scary Thought-He only had one year as a starter in college and found himself in and out of trouble for his off-the-field behavior. (I’m sorry, waiter but I believe the other table ordered the Pacman Jones…)
The Good News: He’s athletic, he’s got hands, and he’s got hops.
The Better News: He racked up 1,000 yards in his sophomore year and managed 8 touchdowns in his junior year despite missing 3 games due to an illness.
The Scary Thought- He’s not exactly a speed demon. He ran the 40 in 4.55.
The Good News- He’s strong and knows how to use his body
The Better News- He could give our boys a good run for their money on the practice squad
The Scary Thought- If our line doesn’t tighten up, he might just get some playing time.
So what’s your take, who did we miss, and where did we go wrong? Feel free to let it out…
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As a Card fan I was praying that Dominque Rodgers Cromartie would fall to AZ (our secondary leaves A LOT to be desired and with Antrell Rolle moving to S, we needed a little miracle worker at the CB position,) but I just KNEW the Saints would snag him first, and if not the Saints the Bills.
I actually had a conversation with DRC after the draft and he was blown away after the Saints passed on him, right before the draft they brought him in for a personal workout and according to him he nailed it. He really thought he would be a Saint…so I am VERY interested in seeing how the selection of Ellis over DRC will work. The draft got hella interesting after the Saints blew past Cincy and scored Ellis…that ish was classic draft day drama. I can only IMAGINE the faces of the Cincy folks, like WTF…there wasn’t a mock draft that didn’t have Ellis going to Cincy!
As for Porter’s 4 on the wonderlic, I’m going to blame his agent, seriously because there is NO WAY it’s his fault! Naw, his agent neglected to prepare him for that one, he just winged it!
I’m interested to see how Carl Nicks works out. This is a guy who’s draft stock dropped because he went to a party once… and that’s about it. Other than that, he’s massive (345) and I think they’re going to move him to a guard position from right tackle. It seems like the more I follow football, the more interested in the trench positions I become.
Ellis will help, and I wasn’t that surprised that they moved up for him. That said, hopefully some more QB pressure from the line will make the secondary’s job easier. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be so good that even Jason David will seem passable. Stranger things have happened.
I had heard that Porter fits our system very well. That’s fine, but I think Cornerback is one of the positions that requires a good deal of smarts, which makes his wonderifhe’lllick deeze nutz a lil scary.
Anytime you can get three immediate contributors out of a draft, you’re doing damn fine. Damn fine. This assumes Porter ends up in the regular season mix on returns, which in my layman’s opinion is at least “pretty likely.”
But I’m gonna have to go ahead and agree on Nicks. Which isn’t to say I think he’s gonna see the field this year — then again, who really HONESTLY saw Jahri Evans coming? — but he’s one hell of an intriguing prospect for that LG spot. And if he’s anything like Jahri, look out!
I just hope our tackles hold up. I’m really jonesing for a 1st round LB and another 2nd round defensive back next year, but I’m afraid tackle is going to need to be addressed too.
carl nicks…good call. i agree that our offensive line is an underplayed weakness. hopefully everyone will step up their game this season so we don’t have to bring anyone else in to fill the gaps.
and the more i read about taylor m., the more i like him. the dude’s apparently a great bad weather kicker, which could come in handy in that late season game against chicago.
i know i’m about 5 weeks too late to comment on this, but Taylor Melhlaff is my new saints crush. know anything about his “status”? he’s too hot for words. it would be like a Demi Moore/Ashton Kutcher thing if I was ever able to snag him, but a chick can still [fantasize] dream, can’t she?
Cougar Chick, speaking of Saints crushes, I think I just fell in love with Mike M…..does anyone know if he is available lol!? Just tricking!
oops, guess I ought to know how to spell my crush’s name huh? sorry Mr. Mehlhaff !