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Saints Look To Move Forward Without Rob Ryan's Guys

The Saints have lost two defensive free agents to season ending injuries, both of whom had experience in the new defensive scheme. Are these losses more devastating than they appear on the surface?

By Wallace Delery
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport

The New Orleans Saints brought in free agent defenders Victor Butler and Kenyon Coleman this off-season not only to fill holes on defense, but to also help the team transition into Rob Ryan's 3-4 defensive scheme. Not only are both of these players familiar with the 3-4 defense, they both played under Rob Ryan as recently as last season. Some considered this experience to be key in their signings, but now their mentoring will be relegated to the sidelines.

Here's a look at the potential on-field production lost:

Victor Butler

#90 / Linebacker / New Orleans Saints

6-2

245

Jul 29, 1987

Oregon State

SEASON TEAM GP COMB TOTAL AST SACK FF FR YDS INT YDS AVG LNG TD PD STF STFYDS KB
2009 16 17 13 4 3.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010 15 24 19 5 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011 16 23 16 7 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0
2012 16 25 21 4 3.0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 0
Career 63 89 69 20 11.0 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 4 0

Kenyon Coleman

#99 / Defensive- End / New Orleans Saints

6-5

293

Apr 10, 1979

UCLA

SEASON TEAM GP COMB TOTAL AST SACK FF FR YDS INT YDS AVG LNG TD PD STF STFYDS KB
2002 1 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2003 16 14 10 4 1.0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
2004 12 9 9 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005 12 14 8 6 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2006 16 31 26 5 4.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 0
2007 16 83 55 28 1.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
2008 16 53 43 10 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
2009 13 38 28 10 1.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 7 0
2010 16 68 50 18 2.5 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0
2011 16 36 23 13 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 9 0
2012 7 15 12 3 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career 141 362 265 97 13.5 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 11 24 0

Butler has two seasons worth of experience in Ryan's 3-4 defense and Coleman has four (2 in Dallas and 2 in Cleveland). While neither player could be considered a breakout star in their past seasons under Ryan, they were both expected to contribute heavily in defensive rotations for the Saints in 2013, especially Butler who may have been primed to start at outside linebacker. Although Who Dat Nation may have preferred to have Anthony Spencer, the Butler/Coleman combination could have provided on-the-rise potential (Butler) with leadership and experience (Coleman).

Now the Saints move on without Rob Ryan's guys and the negatives are twofold, the team lost potential on-field coaches as well as guys who were expected to produce this season. This puts defensive end Akiem Hicks and outside linebacker Martez Wilson in more of a hurry to be productive in the new 3-4 scheme. The room for error for these young talents has shrunk considerably over the last week, especially for Wilson who is on the mend himself with an elbow injury that will sideline him through the remainder of training camp.

I've thought that the mentor angle regarding Butler and Coleman has been overplayed since their signings. If the Saints needed these guys to explain Rob Ryan's defense to the rest of the team then what is Rob there for? It's not like he's speaking in a foreign tongue and those two were going to translate for him. The defensive message isn't lost without them. Coach Ryan losing "his guys" is unfortunate but not devastating to the Saints transition to the 3-4 scheme.

While I don't expect the loss of Butler/Coleman to impede the progression of the Saints' transition to the 3-4, the team will feel the loss hardest in the depth chart. At this point in the year the choices are pretty slim and ultimately it should come down to the players currently in house to produce. Some fans may want to see a player like Richard Seymour signed to fill Coleman's spot, but his asking price would likely be far greater than the Saints would be willing to pay, or even greater than they could afford to pay.

In the end, the biggest tragedy is that Butler, finally getting his chance to escape the shadows and enter the spotlight, will have to wait another season for his chance to shine, and we will all have to watch Will Smith get more playing time at OLB. The Saints just watched two of their more notable free agent signings hit the shelf before they ever got a chance to contribute, and that is unfortunate. Hopefully the "next man up" will be up to the challenge of replacing them this season.

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