Although the Saints certainly seem to be delving slightly deeper into the playbook with each preseason game, our notes still come with the usual caveat – it’s still the preseason and there were still very limited snap counts for the starters. Thus it remains difficult to draw any clear conclusions about scheme this year. That said, this week certainly gave us a good opportunity to key in on some of the “bubble” players for the 53 – both good and bad.

Defensive Linemen

After impressing in more extended action against New England, the Saints starting defensive linemen were only given short cameos against Houston. Big Kevin Williams likely showed enough last week against the Patriots to solidify his roster spot as a run-stuffing defensive tackle. He flashed similar disruptive power in his “blink and you’ll miss it” 7 snap outing against the Texans. Conversely John Jenkins was slightly below-par alongside Williams this week at nose tackle in a shortened 17 snap outing, being pushed back too easily by single and double teams. Only 7 of Jenkins snaps were running plays, though, so it is tough to draw any strong conclusion on such a small sample size. Overall Jenkins is increasingly looking like good foil for Williams on running downs, though. #92 has shown an ability to attract and swallow double teams in the first two preseason games, which is likely to leave Williams in frequent (and favorable) “1 on 1” matchups in the running game. We’ll give him a pass this week. The Saints continued the trend of using Akiem Hicks very sparingly in the preseason, with #76 only playing 10 snaps against the Texans and neither “winning” nor “losing” his battles. Much like in the week 2 New England matchup, Hicks was used as a defensive end on running downs. The extremely limited snap counts for Williams, Hicks and Jenkins against the Texans gave the Saints an excellent chance to again evaluate the cluster of young defensive linemen who sit below “the big 3” on the depth chart. This week it was Tyeler Davison and Tavaris Barnes who saw the greatest amount of first team action, with the pair rotating in throughout the first half. Davison showed improvement following his “learning experience” against New England last week, fighting off Texan blockers against both the run and pass and punctuating his performance with a good hustle sack in the 3rd quarter. Barnes was strong at the line and did not look mismatched against the 1s, showing good pass-rushing ability and winning one-on-ones against the run. Barnes also showed an impressive ability to absorb (rather than be run over by) Texan double teams on occasions. Bobby Richardson had shown positive signs of improvement against New England in week 2. He was used predominantly on second half running downs against Houston this week, though, and only recorded one stop in 37 snaps. That said, on the tape he was slightly more effective than the stat sheet suggests. Richardson showed his ability to play at both the DT and DE positions and did not “lose” many of his battles up front. He also flashed some edge speed from the DE position, which we had not seen to date from #78. He seems to have fallen behind Davison and Barnes in the pecking order though. The real eye-catcher of the day amongst the rookie defensive linemen was Ashaad Mabry though. With roster cuts looming, Mabry desperately needed a strong showing against Houston having failed to fire to date. Thankfully, the big man finally delivered on his sizeable potential (albeit only against the 3s/4s). Mabry was highly disruptive in the second half against Houston, consistently fighting into the backfield and recording 5 stops (including a couple of “highlight reel” TFLs against the run). It was only against the back-ups, but Mabry’s strong performance was at least enough to save him from the initial cuts this week. He’ll get another chance in Green Bay on Thursday. We were frustrated last week when Kaleb Eulls failed to build upon the promise he flashed in the preseason opener against Baltimore. He was certainly “better” this week, but based on playing time still remains rooted at the foot of the depth chart. Eulls looks to be a reasonably versatile defensive tackle, but barring a spectacular showing in Green Bay it looks like the practice-squad at best for 2015.

The Boila’s take – After their impressive showing against New England, the starters along the Saints’ interior defensive line were given the majority of the night off against Houston. This gave the coaching staff an extended opportunity to evaluate the contenders in the hotly-contested “battle of the backups” amongst the rookie linemen. For the second week in a row, fifth-rounder Tyeler Davison enjoyed action with the starters, and looks increasingly like a “sure thing” to make the 53. Behind Davison, Tavaris Barnes ascent of the depth chart has been highly impressive. Having initially caught our eye in second half week 1 action, Barnes is now rotating in with the starters and has climbed ahead of Bobby Richardson in the pecking order. Our concern about the defensive line group remains the lack of true “run stuffing” competition for Jenkins and Williams. Ashaad Mabry would seem to be the only current Saint who has the physical tools to fill such a depth role, and his encouraging second half performance this week caught the eye. Mabry will need another big game against Green Bay (and then some) to become a serious proposition for the 53, though.

Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers

Cameron Jordan reminded the Saints of the player he can be in 2015 with a commanding showing against New England last week. Against Houston, Jordan played “only” 17 snaps as the Saints coaching staff decided to instead take an extended look at the options behind #94. Even in those 17 snaps, Jordan showed excellent strength to win battles in the trenches and also flashed his speed in pass-rushing situations. Much like against New England, Hau’oli Kikaha was employed predominantly as a stand-up OLB on rushing downs and as a 4-3 DE on passing downs this week. We expect this to be the way #45 is used in Arizona in 12 days time. Kikaha was asked to play slightly more coverage this week, and looked sound enough. The versatile Kikaha also showed good anticipation against the run, when lined up as an outside linebacker, albeit failing to “seal the edge” on a couple of occasions. He really comes into his own as a 4-3 DE, though, and showed exceptional edge speed again this week on passing downs. Houston rookie tackle Kendall Lamm was abused by Kikaha on several 3rd downs, with Hau’oli recording a pair of first half QB hurries. It was only the quick release of Bryan Hoyer that prevented Hau’oli from converting his QB pressure and hurries into sacks. The battle for rotational snaps at DE/OLB remains open, but there are significantly fewer participants now after the off-field transactions that followed the Houston game this week. Much like Victor Butler last year, former Cowboy Anthony Spencer failed to survive the first cuts. Spencer has been placed on season-ending IR. It is a shame for Spencer and the Saints, as #99 had looked rejuvenated in his limited snaps against Baltimore in week 1 of the preseason. Also failing to make the cut was former Gator Ronald Powell, who was waived with an injury designation. With Spencer and Powell out of the picture, the Saints are left with Edebali, Tull and Haralson as the only recognised DE/OLB options left on the roster. We would expect there to be space for all three on the final 53, however the battle for playing time remains. It was Kasim Edebali who made the most convincing bid for that playing time this week. Edebali turned in easily his best all-round performance of the preseason against Houston. He played 49 snaps, first appearing in the second quarter and going on to play most of the second half. #91 had 3 QB hurries in his 22 pass rushes, including a highlight pressure following an impressive spin move in the second half. We had not seen Edebali generate much pressure at all to date, so this was highly encouraging. Edebali also played with good discipline against the run, sealing the edge and showing his “chase and tackle” athleticism on the outside when called upon to record 6 stops on the day. A caveat is required here, in that most of Edebali’s highlights were of course against Houston’s 3s and 4s, but his confidence should be improving after a disappointing start to 2015. “Forgotten man” Parys Haralson is another Saint who is creeping back onto the radar after a slow start to 2015. Haralson quietly played 500 snaps last year, and has gradually seen his snap counts increase as the preseason has progressed this year. Like Edebali, Haralson gave his most accomplished preseason showing this week against the Texans. The Saints continued to use Haralson as a 4-3 defensive end, and unless this is an extended “experiment”, it seems likely that this is how the Saints intend to utilise Haralson this year. It has taken #98 some time to adapt to his new role, but he looked sharper and more confident this week, spending time rotating in with the 1s in the first half. There were occasions when Haralson lost battles in the trenches on running plays, but he showed surprisingly good speed off the line as a pass-rusher. Perhaps the most revealing insight into Haralson’s qualities came pre-snap in the second quarter, though, when rookie Tavaris Barnes was unsure where to line up along the defensive line. Looking lost, Barnes immediately turned to 10 year veteran Parys Haralson for guidance and was quickly directed to his spot. A simple moment perhaps – but a flash of the leadership qualities and veteran experience that do not necessarily show up when we are burying ourselves in the “all 22” each week. Rookie Davis Tull only played 5 snaps against New England, having missed the preseason opener in Baltimore through injury, so we were looking forward to a more extended audition from Tull against Houston. Tull played 26 second half snaps in total this week and acquitted himself well. His speed from the edge immediately catches the eye, especially as a pass rusher (although he also played with good control against the run). Tull’s highlight of the day was a “video game” spin move to left rookie guard Chad Slade frozen late in the 3rd quarter and forced a 3rd down incompletion. On the limited evidence we’ve seen so far, Tull is an exciting prospect for the Saints in 2015 and the pass-rushing prowess he has flashed will surely be enough to ensure he winds up on the 53.

The Boila’s take – Jordan and Kikaha continue to impress in preseason play, and look set to be a dangerous duo on the edge this year. The depth behind Jordan and Kikaha is the bigger concern for the Saints. After impressing against Baltimore, Anthony Spencer looked set to play himself into the 53 (potentially at the expense of Edebali, Haralson or Tull). However, with Spencer now hitting IR and Ronald Powell also failing to get healthy, it looks very likely that all three of Edebali, Haralson and Tull will make the 53. Encouragingly, each of the trio gave positive performances against Houston. Almost by default, Edebali now becomes the Saints primary back-up at DE/OLB, with Haralson likely to be employed in obvious rushing situations and Tull as a situational pass rusher. Edebali has shown strong improvement through preseason, so we hope to see the upward curve continuing against Green Bay on Thursday. The Saints will now need him to contribute early and often this year.

Linebackers

With Dannell Ellerbe and Ramon Humber still ruled out through injury, the Saints again employed the “Hawthorne-Anthony” duo for the first half against Houston, with “Coley-Franklin” stepping in for the second half. Dannell Ellerbe’s health looks increasingly questionable for week 1, so the Saints will need David Hawthorne to be ready to start in Arizona if necessary. The veteran resumed his playcalling duties this week, and displayed the impressive anticipation and aggression that he had exhibited a week earlier against New England. Indeed, on occasions Hawthorne was guilty of overpursuit against the run this week, as he attempted to swarm the Houston ball carriers. Nonetheless, this is preferable to the “slow to react, swallowed by blockers” commentary that plagued Hawthorne’s 2014 season. Hawthorne also had a QB hit on Ryan Mallett and showed sound coverage ability over the middle. Meanwhile alongside Hawthorne, Stephone Anthony continues to get up to NFL speed as the preseason progresses. It was another “learning experience” for #50 this week, and again there were occasions where Anthony was slightly hesitant in diagnosing and reacting to Houston plays. He occasionally took bad angles against the run and had one missed tackle. His coverage was more solid, though, as he showed awareness and speed to pick up and cover the Texan running backs out of the backfield. The fact Anthony is the only linebacker to have played exclusively with the 1s this preseason is a pretty clear statement of how the Saints intend to use #50 in 2015. Expect him to get another extended outing against Green Bay on Thursday as he continues to develop. It was a disappointing day for the Saints’ backup inside linebackers against Houston. Henry Coley had a torrid start to the second half, with two bad missed tackles in the opening series. This perhaps knocked the confidence of #52, as he took bad angles and went on to miss two more tackles in his eagerness to make amends. We still like Coley’s instincts, but he looks every bit the “practice squad” player on Sunday’s evidence. Jerry Franklin was equally poor on the day, looking soft in coverage and finding himself swallowed up by Houston’s 3rd and 4th string blockers on a number of running plays. Franklin had two missed tackles himself, to add to Coley’s. Markus Pierce-Brewster was given an 11 snap cameo this week at OLB. Despite an energetic showing, Pierce-Brewster has not done enough to catch the attention of the Saints’ coaches this preseason.

The Boila’s take – One thing that is abundantly clear as the preseason rolls on is that the Saints intend to start Stephone Anthony at MLB this season. The Who Dat Nation will need to be patient with #50 – he is battling an extremely steep learning curve, and the signs so far are that it may take Anthony slightly longer than initially hoped to get up to NFL-speed. In the meantime, an intriguing battle is developing for the WLB spot alongside Anthony. Even if Dannell Ellerbe is able to return for week 1, our sense is that he will not automatically jump into the starting spot. Stephone Anthony is learning to play alongside David Hawthorne and the duo are forging an intriguing partnership. Hawthorne seems to benefit from the extra freedom (and responsibility) that playing alongside Anthony provides. That, coupled with Anthony’s growing familiarity of playing with Hawthorne in the preseason, may lead Rob Ryan to start Hawthorne in Arizona even if Ellerbe is healthy. Outside of the starters, Coley, Franklin and Pierce-Brewster did nothing to help their stock this week. Of the trio, the raw Henry Coley looks like a potential “practice squad” candidate. Franklin looks unlikely to survive the next round of cuts and Pierce-Brewster has unsurprisingly failed to make the 75. Once healthy, Ramon Humber looks set to fill the 4th LB spot in the 53 by default.

Cornerbacks

The Saints were still without Brandon Browner and Terrence Frederick on Sunday, but welcomed back Keenan Lewis to the starting line-up. Lewis will probably wish he stayed on the sideline. A rusty looking #21 was given a tough workout by talented Houston WR DeAndre Hopkins. Lewis only played the first series but was beaten by Hopkins twice. Rumours since suggested Lewis may have suffered (or played through) an injury on Sunday, and he has been absent from practice since. Reports this morning indicate that Lewis suffered a sports hernia and will be out for at least 4-6 weeks. A brutal blow for the Saints defense to start the season. Delvin Breaux also returned on Sunday, and started alongside Lewis. It is likely that Breaux will be called upon to start on the outside in Arizona (hopefully alongside Browner), with Lewis now ruled out for at least the month of September. Breaux looked comfortable in first half action against Houston. His coverage was sound (only 1 completion in 22 passing downs) and he also showed an ability to fight off blockers on the outside and seal the edge as required against the run, recording 2 stops. The more we see of Breaux, the more we like. If/when both Lewis and Browner are both finally healthy at the same time, it looks like Breaux can be a very capable nickel back for the Saints in 2015. In the meantime, he’ll likely be starting outside. Former Georgia Bulldog Damian Swann has had an excellent preseason and continued with a relatively solid performance against Houston. Most eye-catching were the exotic blitzes that Swann came on from the outside, showing excellent speed from the slot to create mismatches along the offensive line for Houston. Swann had 4 blitzes that we counted and played coverage on his other 17 passing downs. Encouragingly there were no flags on Swann this week in coverage. The downside of this was that he gave up 3 completions on the day, twice giving too much cushion to Texan WR Keshawn Martin on the outside, and had an early missed tackle on Houston’s opening drive to concede YAC. It is inevitable that a rookie CB will have such teething problems, particularly one such as Swann who is trying to find the balance between playing “physical” and picking up flags. Stanley Jean-Baptiste continued his impressive preseason with another solid outing against the Texans. He had his second “shutout” of 2015, not conceding a completion in 28 passing downs, lining up both on the outside and in the slot. Much like against the Ravens in week 1, Baptiste stuck to his assignments and was hardly thrown at by Hoyer and Mallett. He did have one missed tackle in run support and had a (questionable) DPI flag thrown against him, but overall it was another encouraging showing from the fast-improving CB. We commented last week that Kyle Wilson was “back on the bubble” in the congested CB group, but that he needed another strong showing this week to break into the top 5 at corner. Unfortunately Wilson took a disastrous backward step against the Texans. He was at fault on both of Houston’s second half touchdown passes, each time simply losing coverage in “one on one” man-to-man assignments outside. This seemed to hit Wilson’s confidence, as he went on to be beaten again in coverage on a key 4th quarter 3rd down and then give up a DPI penalty later in that drive when beaten again in “one on one” coverage. Wilson did make a few better plays in run support, but run defense alone won’t get him close to the 53. He survived the cuts to 75, but will need a much-improved showing against Green Bay to even return to “the bubble”. Having started the preseason very much in the “top 5” at CB, it is increasingly looking like Brian Dixon may face an uphill battle to even make the 53. #20 will need to rely on his solid 2014 campaign to justify a place on the 2015 roster, as he has looked below par in preseason so far. After a slightly more encouraging showing against New England, Dixon took another backward step against Houston this week. He was beaten twice in coverage and had a missed tackle in only 19 coverage snaps. The fact Dixon still has not seen any first half playing time is significant. We liked what Dixon brought to the table in 2014, but that was when Corey White and Terrence Frederick were his only competition outside. The CB group is far deeper this year. After a poor outing against New England last week, we suggested that undrafted rookie Travis Manning had a mountain to climb to make the roster. He did not even get a snap against Houston this week, effectively sealing his fate.

The Boila’s take – With PJ Williams now placed on IR, there are 5 clear frontrunners emerging in the battle for places at CB. Starters Lewis and Browner are locks on the outside (once healthy), and Delvin Breaux is looking like a solid third CB. Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Damian Swann continued their strong preseason campaigns, and look to be ahead of the rest as CB4 and CB5 respectively at this stage. With question marks over the health of Brandon Browner and Keenan Lewis, it may be that the Saints carry 6 CBs on the roster. If that is the case, Brian Dixon probably remains the frontrunner for the sixth CB spot, after Kyle Wilson’s poor showing this week. Unsurprisingly, neither Terrence Frederick or Travis Manning survived the cut to 75.

Safeties The #Byrdwatch continued on Sunday, as Jairus Byrd remained absent. His status for week 1 (and beyond) is now surely highly questionable – Byrd has not taken a rep for the Saints in nearly 12 months. Kenny Vaccaro was also absent again this week, which is frustrating. We were keen to see any signs of improvement from #32 this preseason after his poor 2014 season, but he has now missed 2 of the 3 preseason games. With a short turnaround for Green Bay this week, it may be that we don’t see Vaccaro suited up again until the regular season.With Byrd and Vaccaro already absent, the Saints were dealt a further blow on Sunday as reliable backup and special teams contributor Vinnie Sunseri went down with a serious looking knee injury. Sunseri was waived with an injury designation following the game, so may return to the Saints if he goes unclaimed (albeit only to Injured Reserve). With Sunseri’s injury adding to the uncertainty at safety, it was no surprise that the Saints took no risk with their only healthy starter Rafael Bush against Houston. #25 only played 9 snaps on Sunday. Kenny Phillips assumed the starting SS spot alongside Bush and again impressed, after his eye-catching showing against New England last week. Phillips shone in run support again on Sunday, leading the team with 8 stops and playing with excellent discipline in the box. He looks less convincing in coverage, conceding two completions and picking up a 4th quarter flag when he was beaten again “one on one”. However as a “run stopping” strong safety, Phillips looks a strong option. With Bush dropping out of the game after the first series, Pierre Warren was given an extended audition at the FS position. His one stop on the day was a strong 3rd quarter open field tackle, and his deep coverage was as sound as ever (the Saints did not give up a downfield pass of over 20 yards with Warren at FS). The knock on Warren continues to be that he does not step up to play the run well, but his coverage can rarely be faulted. Warren and Phillips are very different propositions, but both are making their cases for a roster spot. With the Saints shorthanded at safety, and employing “3 safety” sets on several downs, Jamarca Sanford was also featured extensively against Houston. His coverage was slightly soft on the tape, but he was only thrown at once on the day. Sanford was less of a factor than Phillips in the running game, recording only one stop. The Boila’s take – With the two starting safeties still sidelined, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the strength of this group. We have always been high on Rafael Bush, and his abbreviated outing on Sunday was a reflection of how valuable he is to the Saints if either or both of Byrd and Vaccaro cannot go in Arizona. Kenny Phillips continues to make strides at SS, and looks like a decent bet to make the 53 at this stage. If the Saints opt to keep 5 safeties, which they may be forced to with the uncertainty over Byrd, ballhawk Pierre Warren looks to have the edge over Jamarca Sanford.

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