Tag: age

Could Blake Gillikin be more than a camp leg for the Saints?

The New Orleans Saints signed Blake Gillikin as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State, but he might have what it takes to win a job.

[jwplayer tRilVLgl-ThvAeFxT]

One name instantly stood apart from the rest when the New Orleans Saints announced their list of undrafted free agent signings: Blake Gillikin, a rookie punter out of Penn State. With spots on the 90-man roster running at a premium this offseason, many Saints fans were left wondering why the team would choose to add a second specialist with longtime punter Thomas Morstead so well-entrenched.

It’s a valid question. The Saints haven’t carried multiple punters on the roster since 2015, when Morstead missed two games with a quadriceps injury (former Miami Dolphins punter Brandon Fields stood in during his absence). Before that, you have to dig all the way back to Morstead’s rookie training camp in 2009 to find another punter wearing black and gold — be sure to file away Glenn Pakulak’s name for trivia night. The journeyman punted for the Saints during the 2008 season, but Morstead won the starting job from him the following summer and has held onto it ever since.

But let’s circle back to the present. The Saints signing Gillikin reunites the rookie with Phil Galiano, the ex-Penn State special teams coordinator who the Saints hired as an assistant after the 2018 season. The Saints have linked Galiano with his former players before. Last year, they drafted Rutgers safety Saquan Hampton — who Galiano recruited and started on special teams as a freshman when he was coaching the Scarlet Knights.

Beyond that connection, Gillikin is a fine talent in his own right. He started four full seasons for the Nittany Lions, averaging 43.0 yards per punt in his collegiate career. As a senior, he pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line on 32 of 62 punts (51.6%). For perspective, Morstead had one of his most effective performances ever last year, dropping punts inside the 20 on 29 of 60 attempts (48.3%). The NFL’s most-efficient punter was Sam Koch, who forced the Baltimore Ravens’ opponents to start inside their own 20 on 21 of his 40 tries (52.5%).

Could Gillikin beat Morstead for a spot on the 53-man roster? The Saints have held vicious training camp battles at long snapper and kicker in recent years, but Morstead has weathered those storms for more than a decade. It’s almost impossible to imagine someone besides No. 6 handling punts for New Orleans.

Still, let’s look at it objectively: great as he’s been (and remains), Morstead turned 34 this year and carries a 2020 salary cap hit of $4.3 million, along with the NFL’s highest annual average salary among punters (north of $3.9 million). He’s under contract through 2023, but the Saints could release or trade him after June 1 and recoup $3.3 million. Those resources could be put to use retaining younger talents like Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore, or Ryan Ramczyk.

And it’s not like the Saints have been shy about moving on from special teamers before. Just last year they inked Chris Banjo to a three-year contract extension, only to cut him months later once (he ended up with the Arizona Cardinals, and re-signed with them this offseason).

Considering Gillikin is only 22 and will earn just $610,000 this season and, well, it’s not impossible to say a changing of the guard might be on its way. And it’s no knock on Morstead. He’s beaten every expectation for a fifth-round draft pick, starting and playing at a high level for a decade. He’s a leader in the locker room due as much to his reputation (he and Drew Brees are the last remaining holdovers from the Super Bowl XLIV-winning team) as his actions, taking an active interest in his family life and the well-being of his community. The roots he’s put down in New Orleans won’t be easily removed.

But time marches on. And Gillikin might have what it takes to displace such a respected veteran. I mean, the kid even has his own highlight reel:

Now, for the counter-argument: if something isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it. Morstead thrived during special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi’s first year on the job, and his status as a known quantity to Saints head coach Sean Payton can’t be understated. An offseason abbreviated by the coronavirus pandemic might mean the Saints can’t evaluate Gillikin, the rookie, to their satisfaction.

And it’s possible that this is all part of a plan to get Gillikin some NFL exposure in a friendly situation, working with coaches he knows. That’s how the Saints found Wil Lutz, their franchise kicker (who marvels at Morstead’s stardom when they’re out around town). Lutz worked with veteran Ravens kicker Justin Tucker and head coach John Harbaugh (whose background lies in special teams) during his own rookie training camp, using the opportunity to learn from the best and get some exposure.

When Harbaugh met Payton at a Saints-Ravens preseason game, he put in a good word for his rookie — prompting Payton to cut both of the kickers he was auditioning in training camp and debut Lutz in Week 1. And the rest is history.

Maybe that’s what the Saints are thinking to do with Gillikin, allowing an assistant coach to help him get a strong start in the NFL. Or maybe he’ll win the job outright and it’ll be Gillikin’s No. 4, not Morstead’s No. 6, punting for the Saints this year and for years to come.

[vertical-gallery id=32968]

Two Saints defensive backs make PFF’s top 25 players under 25

New Orleans Saints defensive backs Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams made Pro Football Focus’s list of the top 25 players under age 25.

[jwplayer CfNmTylY-ThvAeFxT]

The analysts at Pro Football Focus published their latest look at the 25 best NFL players under the age of 25, and two members of the New Orleans Saints made the cut. While cornerback Marshon Lattimore and running back Alvin Kamara were recognized on last year’s list, Kamara will age out by the start of the 2020 season (turning 25 in July).

Lattimore clocked in at No. 12, with PFF’s Ben Linsley writing of the two-time Pro Bowler:

Lattimore is part of the talented group of secondary players who were taken in the 2017 NFL Draft, and if you look back over his first three years in the NFL, his PFF grade of 84.9 ranks 10th at the cornerback position. His grade may have trended in the wrong direction in 2018 and 2019 after an impressive rookie campaign where he notched 18 combined pass breakups and interceptions, but at worst, Lattimore has been a solid starter in the Saints’ secondary. You’ll take that as an NFL team 10 times out of 10.

However, the Saints teammate joining Kamara might not be someone many fans expect: free safety Marcus Williams. Linsley added:

Williams has very quietly played like one of the best safeties in the NFL over the last three seasons. His PFF grade ranks fourth at the position since 2017, and he’s been the eighth-most valuable safety in the league by PFF WAR over that same three-year stretch. As a free safety, Williams doesn’t see the ball come his way all that often as the primary coverage defender, but he has put up at least eight combined interceptions and pass breakups (on 25 or fewer targets) in both 2017 and 2019. He is just another player on the list of recent Saints draft hits.

[vertical-gallery id=32968]

Cowboys were among oldest teams in 2019, but with a special catch

The 2019 Cowboys finished the regular season as one of the oldest teams in the NFL, but one veteran is responsible for much of that curve.

There’s a youth movement in the NFL. But the Cowboys seem to be trying hard to buck that trend, especially in one specific unit.

Football Outsiders last week released its 2019 report digging into the age of each roster in the league. As they have with every season since 2006, they didn’t just calculate the average age of all the the guys who are technically on the team. They charted the players’ snap-weighted age; that is, they weighted the age of each player according the number of snaps he played in the regular season.

It makes sense: if the aging veterans and hotshot rookies on a squad mainly stand around on the sidelines, it doesn’t really say anything meaningful about a team’s “average age,” at least not in the way that people usually imply. That first-year quarterback who actually starts and plays the whole season? That definitely counts toward a team being considered “young.” But a long-in-the-tooth third-string emergency backup who only ever holds a clipboard shouldn’t skew the team toward being called “old.”

The Cowboys as a whole, in 2019, were the sixth-oldest team in the league, with an average snap-weighted age (SWA) of 26.7. The league average was 26.4, a number nearly all 32 teams were fairly tightly clustered around.

Where it starts to get interesting is when SWA is broken down by unit. The SWA of the Dallas offense in 2019 was 27.0, just two-tenths of a year above the league average. That ranked 13th. The defense skewed even more toward the middle of the pack compared to the rest of the NFL; the Cowboys’ SWA on the defensive side was 26.2, 18th place against the average of 26.3.

But special teams? That unit might as well qualify for early-bird specials and senior matinee discounts.

The Cowboys’ special teamers in 2019 were the third-oldest bunch in the NFL with a SWA of 26.9. That figure is a full year above the league average. Special teams play is generally thought of as a young man’s game (think gunners), but many teams do anchor that phase of the game with a greybeard kicker…

…or a 39-year-old long snapper.

L.P. Ladouceur will embark on his 16th season as a pro in 2020. His age (he celebrated his 39th birthday in March) certainly sets the curve for the rest of the special teams players in Dallas, but his is a position where longevity is a plus, not a hindrance, and extra experience is definitely a plus.

The Cowboys special teams unit got slightly (but suddenly) older late last season with the swapping of Brett Maher for Kai Forbath, as Forbath is two years older. He and new signee Greg Zuerlein are both 32, so the winner of their competition for the upcoming season’s kicking duties won’t change that number for Dallas. With punter Chris Jones turning 31 years old, there’s a good chance that the Cowboys will remain one of the oldest special teams units in the league under John Fassel’s leadership.

The defense may see their SWA rank slide toward the older end of the list moving forward. Yes, Michael Bennett turned 34 just a few weeks after joining the Cowboys last season, but in his nine games with the team, he played just 40% of the defensive snaps. Linebacker Sean Lee will turn 34 before the season begins. Gerald McCoy is 32. Dontari Poe will blow out 30 candles before Week 1; all three will likely see high snap counts and will definitely ratchet up the SWA in 2020.

Of course, any discussion of the Cowboys and their age in 2019 has to include Jason Witten. At 37 and playing the vast majority of the team’s offensive snaps last year, he made Dallas the oldest team at tight end last season. Take him out of the equation, though, and the Cowboys come in under the league’s average SWA at every single offensive position group.

Granted, youth doesn’t automatically translate to a better football team: New England was by far the oldest team in 2019- in all three phases- and they were still, by and large, the Patriots. And three of the four youngest teams- Jacksonville, Cleveland, and Miami- didn’t really scare anybody. So maybe SWA is just interesting trivia, fodder for bar bets.

Still, 2020’s Cowboys offense should feel a lot younger. Fans will no doubt be encouraged by that. The defense may feel slightly older. Maybe some additional veteran presence there is a good thing.

In any case, the special teams will still be wearing their pants too high and yelling at whippersnappers to get off their lawn.

[vertical-gallery id=642979][vertical-gallery id=642587][lawrence-newsletter]

Drew Brees turns 41 ahead of critical 2020 Saints offseason

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is celebrating his 41st birthday in Washington, D.C., supporting former teammate Steve Gleason.

[jwplayer 6roV8HPR-ThvAeFxT]

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is celebrating his 41st birthday in Washington, D.C., where he’ll be supporting former teammate and Saints living legend Steve Gleason during a ceremony at Capitol Hill. Gleason is receiving the Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts in raising awareness of and promoting research in ALS, the degenerative nerve disease that he’s battled since 2011.

Brees and Gleason are two icons in Saints history, and the legacy Brees will leave behind when he steps away from the game is something that’s often been on his mind in recent years. He’s made a point to reach out to younger athletes ranging from LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow and New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson to rising tennis phenom Madison Keys, doing what he can to recognize the next generation of star talent.

It all precedes what could be a tumultuous offseason in New Orleans. The Saints have suffered three frustrating playoffs exits in the twilight of Brees’ career, finally finding a winning formula after spending much of the 2010’s in mediocrity. Brees has admitted he’s playing on borrowed time right now, and is acutely aware that his window to win another elusive Super Bowl is closing.

All three Saints quarterbacks — Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and Taysom Hill — will be free agents in March, barring contract extensions with the team. It’s possible the Saints find ways to retain each of them, but it won’t be easy. As always, the Saints are pressed for salary cap space, and Bridgewater can’t be expected to wait forever to take the reins once Brees hangs up his cleats. The team could be forced to make some dramatic personnel decisions in the months ahead.

But for now, we’ll focus on the greatness Brees has brought to New Orleans. He’s played 216 regular season games (and 15 playoff matchups) at a Hall of Fame-worthy level, putting himself among the greatest passers of all time. He delivered the first championship title in Saints history, seeing the team through a period of sustained success that past generations of fans could only dream about. On the occasion of his birthday, he’ll rightly take some time to reflect on how he’s gotten here, and what may be in store for him in the future. Saints fans should take that same approach and be thankful that they’ve even gotten here.

[vertical-gallery id=26836]

Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP history could happen this year

Heisman Trophy finalists were announced today and the list didn’t have any surprises. Joe Burrow (Quarterback, LSU), Chase Young (Defensive End, Ohio State), Justin Fields (Quarterback, Ohio State) and Jalen Fields (Quarterback, Oklahoma) will make …

Heisman Trophy finalists were announced today and the list didn’t have any surprises. Joe Burrow (Quarterback, LSU), Chase Young (Defensive End, Ohio State), Justin Fields (Quarterback, Ohio State) and Jalen Fields (Quarterback, Oklahoma) will make their way to New York to find out who wins the prestigious award. Burrow is the odds on favorite to walk away with the award and he may end up being the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

The NFL MVP race doesn’t work that way but right now the favorites to win the award essentially comes down to two players: Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson. No one else really has a shot.

That brings up an interesting scenario. For the first time in history, the Heisman Trophy winner could be older than the NFL MVP winner.

Burrow is in his fifth year of college after redshirting his first year at Ohio State. He turns 23 tomorrow on December 10th — happy birthday, Joe! — and is going to win the Heisman Trophy unless something crazy happens with Chase Young becoming the first defensive player since Charles Woodson to win the award.

Jackson is the favorite to win MVP unless Wilson goes on a complete tear in the final three games. Even then, Jackson’s season and story may be too hard for voters to pass up. Jackson doesn’t turn 23 until January.

So, it’s only a few months difference but that means the Heisman Trophy favorite — Burrow — is older than the NFL MVP favorite — Jackson. If things play out as most expect them to, history will be made this year.