On Friday, we examined five teams planning for sweeping changes on defense this season. The New Orleans Saints topped our list.
The Saints are switching from a 4-3 defensive scheme to the 3-4 under recently installed coordinator Rob Ryan, meaning everything will be new for his players.
Well, almost everything.
Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins says Ryan strongly reminds him of the guy who used to run the show in New Orleans from 2009 to 2011, the back-from-exile Gregg Williams.
"Personality-wise they are very similar," Jenkins said, per The Associated Press. "They're cut from the same cloth in that they know that players and matchups are what defense is all about and they have a lot of personality and they're aggressive in their play-calling."
Frankly, that's not a comparison the Saints are aiming to flaunt. It's only now that coach Sean Payton and his team have begun to pick up the pieces from the snaking and devastating bounty scandal that poisoned the franchise one season ago.
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Besides, Ryan wasn't brought to New Orleans to mimic the tactics of Williams, now with the Tennessee Titans, but to repair a defense that gave up a head-spinning 7,042 yards last season, worst in NFL history.
Fixing that problem without a heat-seeking league-office investigation would be a bonus.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
