Top 53 players on the Saints active roster: No. 1- Drew Brees
The following is a 53-part segment on the New Orleans Saints’ active roster by Saints Post of the Rant Sports Network. This series will rate the players on the Saints active roster from No. 1 to 53 in numerical order. This list only includes players on the Saints roster as it stands on May 30 due to the NFL lockout.
Of all the players that will be on the Saints 53-man roster for the 2011 season, no player was easier to rank than Quarterback Drew Brees. Not only is the the top player on the Saints roster, he is one of the top players in the entire league.
It’s just about common knowledge to Saints fans what Brees has done while in New Orleans, but it bears repeating. He came in to a woe-begotten franchise after the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, led them to two NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl championship. Along the way, he has become a top three quarterback in the league, but he has shattered all sorts of passing and offensive records along the way. He has done all this without having an elite receiver to throw to or an elite running back lurking in the backfield.
Outside of his on-the-field play, he has also been tremendous in the New Orleans community by helping to rebuild the city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. For his efforts in the community, he was named Sports Illustrated’s ‘Sportsman of the Year’ in 2010.
So finding the No. 1 player on the Saints roster was easy. Ranking the next 52 will be much more difficult.
Late draft choices show Saints targeting special teams
It’s no secret to New Orleans Saints fans, or the NFL in general, that the Saints have had struggles with their special teams unit over the past several seasons. In fact, during the Saints Super Bowl winning season, the black and gold had the worst special teams ranking of any team in NFL history to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
The special teams struggles continued in 2011, as not only did the team lose games due to poor place kicking, their coverage units cost them at least one game (against the Browns in the Super Dome) and was suspect in several other games during the season.
To counter these special teams struggles, the Saints selected a few players in the later rounds of the 2011 draft that should help their coverage units on both punts and kickoffs. The team’s second third-round draft pick, former Louisville cornerback Johnny Patrick, will likely make his mark on the team his rookie year as a gunner on special teams due to his speed and coverage skills.
He’s not the only Saints rookie expected to make a difference on special teams. Seventh-round pick Nate Bussey, a linebacker out of the University of Illinois, was called the best special teams player on his college team, and appears likely to be the next fan favorite special teams player out of the mold of Steve Gleason and Fred McAfee for the Saints.
Regardless of how they finished on special teams in past seasons, it’s good to see that the team acknowledges those problems and have selected some players that can make a difference in 2011.
Drew Brees has harsh words for NFL owners in SI interview
Despite being one of plaintiffs in the NFL Players Association’s lawsuit against the NFL owners, New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees has easily been the most outspoken and concise in his statements during the offseason plagued by the lockout.
In a recent interview to Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter, Brees held back no punches toward the owners and their case. He used some very pointed language that will definitely ruffle some feathers at the NFL’s headquarters.
Here are some of the more notable quotes from Brees in the article, which is available on Sports Illustrated’s website”
“Ever since Gene Upshaw passed away — I’m just going to lay it all out there — the owners saw blood in the water,” Brees said Wednesday after a players-organized workout at Tulane University. “They felt like, ‘This is our opportunity to take a significant piece of the [financial] pie back at all costs, a piece that we will never have to give back again. This is our chance, while they don’t have leadership, while they’re scrambling to find a new executive director. This is our time.’”
“Their philosophy was, We’re going to give you a very subpar deal, a slap-in-the-face deal, and hope that you’ll accept it because hopefully we’ve intimidated you enough into thinking that this is a take-it-or-leave-it deal, and you’re just going to succumb to the pressure,” he said. “Well, guess what. We’re a lot more informed and educated than in the past, and we’re much better businessmen than you think and we’re going to stand up for what is right and what is fair. Fifty-fifty is fair. It’s been fair for the last 20 years and I think the game has done pretty well over the last 20 years. I think franchise values have gone up at a pretty good rate over the last 20 years. So you can’t sit here and tell me that the system is broken.”
It’s great to see a Saints player taking a leadership role in this lockout that has become frustrating to everyone. The entire article is definitely worth a read.
Drew Brees hands ball off to running back Mark Ingram
Of course it was just in a player-led practice at Tulane University, but it is still a big step for the black and gold. Wednesday marked the first time that the Saints first-round pick practiced with the roughly 40 Saints players who have gotten together over the offseason to stay in shape despite the lockout.
Ironically, Ingram had been working out in New Orleans while the Saints players had been undergoing their own workouts. Before he was even a member of the Saints, he had been working out in the Big East to prepare for the draft, so it was only fitting that the Saints traded up in the first round to select him to add some stability to their inconsistent and oft-injured running back corps.
It’s a small nugget in the tortoise-paced offseason due to the lockout, but the fact that Ingram is getting reps with the team is a big development for the team. It’s good seeing more and more players staying and shape and building camaraderie despite the lockout. And besides, the sight of Brees handing the ball off to Ingram is something Saints fans should get used to.
Check out highlights from Saints intrasquad softball game
A little over a week ago, the New Orleans Saints got together in the Big Easy for a competitive game of…. softball.
Yes, the lockout is still in place and the team is still going through player-led workouts, but the softball game was for a good cause- the Heath Evans Foundation which benefits abused women and children. The offense played the defense, and won handily, in front of a nearly capacity crowd in Zephyr Field, which shows how much the city loves the Saints.
I wrote all about the softball game last week right after it happened, but I wanted to share some video highlights of the softball game to all the Saints Post faithful. It’s great to see a team as close-knit as the Saints getting together for such a good cause in the middle of such a turbulent offseason, and once football gets back on track, the sky looks to be the limit for this Saints squad.
