Welcome to the National Football League, the league Jerry Glanville, the very same Atlanta Falcons head coach who purchased a Georgia Dome ticket for Elvis every home game, dubbed “Not For Long.”
It's why all 32 organizations need to make hay immediately.
There's no rebuilding. This isn't the NBA that features tanking and silly phrases like “trust the process.” The NFL is a parity-driven league that can turn on a dime. Just look at the playoffs this season as opposed to last. An incredible eight new fresh faces joined the party this January with one still alive (Philadelphia Eagles).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5sIzGXJ8mw
Now welcome yourself to the NFL Draft, the lifeblood of every organization.
No team understands this more than the New Orleans Saints thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime haul during the most recent draft.
A year ago, Sean Payton's squad was a stale version of mightier days featuring interception returns against Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. The 7-9 finished capped off the franchise's third straight season with that number. Three consecutive losing seasons leading to three straight non-playoff years.
An influx of talent was vital.
The first Saints rookie called out by commissioner Roger Goodell was “Marshon Lattimore, cornerback from Ohio State.” Goodell then spouted off the name of “Ryan Ramczyk, offensive tackle from Wisconsin.”
Marcus Williams, safety from Utah, Alvin Kamara, running back from Tennessee, Alex Anzalone, linebacker from Florida, Trey Hendrickson, edge from Florida Atlantic, and Al-Quadin Muhammad, defensive end from Miami followed the two first-round selections.
For visual purposes, let's list the Saints rooks:
- R1, P11: Marshon Lattimore, CB-OSU
- R1, P32: Ryan Ramczyk, OT-WIS
- R2, P42: Marcus Williams, S-UTA
- R3, P67: Alvin Kamara, RB-TEN
- R3, P76: Alex Anzalone, LB-FLA
- R3, P103: Trey Hendrickson, DE-FATL
- R6, P196: Al-Quadin Muhammad, DE-MIA
If you compiled an NFL fantasy draft, you couldn't do better. If you decided to run with New Orleans in Madden and take advantage of computer teams through draft pick trading, you couldn't dare dream a more dominant draft. In Lattimore, Ramczyk, and Kamara, the Saints showcased three rookies to make the NFL All-Rookie team.
Let's first begin with everybody's favorite, Alvin Kamara.
Other than his fantasy net worth—which, these days, builds football stock and name value just as much as regular football stock—Kamara helped completely transform the Saints offense, despite the initial presence of one Adrian Peterson. Toss in Ramczyk on the power right side, and one fearsome rushing attack was born.
The 2016 NFL season saw Payton's offense rush for 108.9 yards a game, average enough for 16th in the league. In 2015, 93.2 yards a week on the ground gave the squad a ranking of 24th. With the shifty do-it-all back in Kamara and Ramczyk providing beef up front, the Saints finished fifth in rushing with an average of 129.4 yards.
Naturally, due to the ease of the rushing attack, it becomes Drew Brees time.
Brees, 39, is a walking Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and honestly can get it done with the world's worst rushing attack. (We've seen him do it before.) Numbers rarely reflect the effect on Brees in a positive light. Another Pro Bowl season for Brees actually produced far fewer yards (4,334) than we're used to. What's important to note, however, was his league-leading and career-high 72.0 percent completion percentage.
With the rushing and Kamara's highlight-making receiving ability (81 receptions, 826 receiving yards, five touchdowns), Brees was suddenly put in even more of a perfect spot with this Saints offense.
He's smaller quarterback, a guy who generally owns the defense pre-snap. And much like Tom Brady, he owns matchups. Kamara can't be covered by any linebacker or safety in this game. It's that simple. Other than the Patriots, no team in the NFL gained more yards from scrimmage in 2017.
Defensively, New Orleans did exactly what it needed to do in last year's draft. The team plugged its top need: cover corner.
Marshon Lattimore is a flat-out stud. Quarterbacks were scared to throw to the rookie's side by the quarter-mark of the season and he still managed to snag five interceptions.
Trey Hendrickson was solid opposite Cameron Jordon on the edge in sub looks and Marcus Williams at safety played an excellent brand of centerfield alongside Kenny Vacarro as he finished third on the team with 73 tackles.
These rookie acquisitions helped transform a 27th-ranked NFL defense (2016) into a middle-of-the-pack version in 2017.
One thing's for sure, what we saw from the Saints this past calendar season makes what we see in Cleveland or anywhere that makes us blurt out the word “rebuilding” silly. There are no farm teams in football. There's no Triple-A. There's no G-League.
There's a practice squad that serves as the deep bench of a deep active roster consisting of 46 football players who often play year-to-year on non-guaranteed contracts.
The next time somebody tells you a particular team is rebuilding, just say, “Get outta here. Check out the Saints 2017 draft.”
As long as a franchise quarterback is in tow and even without one at times (Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars), any one of these 32 franchises has a shot at winning a title.
Could you imagine Jerry Glanville on the sidelines coaching in today's parity-driven league? Forget “Not For Long.” It would have been crazier than Elvis actually attending a Falcons game in the early 1990s.
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