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The New Orleans Saints reported two free agent visits on Saturday’s daily NFL transactions wire: cornerbacks Christopher Fredrick and Kemon Hall. So who are they?
Fredrick (listed at 5-foot-11 and 198 pounds) is an undrafted rookie out of Syracuse, where he started 43 consecutive games at cornerback. He was credited with 23 pass defenses (including eight interceptions) in 49 games played, as well as five fumbles (three forced, two recovered). What’s interesting is that Fredrick also ran with the special teams units throughout his Syracuse career, experience which should help his odds of catching on with an NFL roster.
Hall (listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds) is a North Texas product who spent the 2019 season on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, but hasn’t yet found a team in 2020. After transferring from Itawamba Community College in Mississippi, he started 25 straight games in the Conference USA and recorded 28 passes defensed (6 of which were interceptions), with a forced fumble thrown in for good measure. That suggests some real playmaking ability, but he’ll have to have wowed the Saints in his free agent tryout to get a shot on the 80-man roster.
But why were the Saints bringing in more help for the secondary, which has impressed in training camp practices? It’s possible they simply need more bodies to help round out the daily rotation after rookie cornerback Tino Ellis (Maryland) was designated to the injured reserve list earlier this week.
With Ellis out of action, that leaves the Saints with the following healthy cornerbacks:
- Marshon Lattimore
- Janoris Jenkins
- P.J. Williams
- Patrick Robinson
- Justin Hardee
- Johnson Bademosi
- Keith Washington Jr. (rookie, West Virginia)
They haven’t signed anyone yet, but keep an eye out in case either of these free agents ends up joining the Saints for the rest of training camp. Earlier this week, they signed reserve tight end Ethan Wolf after a similar workout session.
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