In one of his weekly press conferences this week, Sean Payton announced that youngster Remi Ayodele was now his starter at defensive tackle alongside Sedrick Ellis. Suprising news to me, at the very least, as I had been calling for Kendrick Clancy to return to the lineup as soon as possible. Despite being in my opinion one of the most underrated players on the Saints, Clancy is now burried on the depth chart with a minimal chance at playing time. While I haven't been blown away by Remi Ayodele's play to this point, he has been serviceable and he even scored a touchdown (pictured) against the Jets. Either Clancy's knee injury is more serious than the Saints are letting on, or they've been impressed enough with Ayodele's performance that they believe he is the best man for the job. To be honest, I have no idea which of those two theories is more likely at this point. My hope is that Ayodele will continue to improve as he gets more playing time, but my opinion is the Saints are weaker at defensive tackle now than they were when the season started.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Saints Nation: Remi Ayodele has supplanted Kendrick Clancy at starter
In one of his weekly press conferences this week, Sean Payton announced that youngster Remi Ayodele was now his starter at defensive tackle alongside Sedrick Ellis. Suprising news to me, at the very least, as I had been calling for Kendrick Clancy to return to the lineup as soon as possible. Despite being in my opinion one of the most underrated players on the Saints, Clancy is now burried on the depth chart with a minimal chance at playing time. While I haven't been blown away by Remi Ayodele's play to this point, he has been serviceable and he even scored a touchdown (pictured) against the Jets. Either Clancy's knee injury is more serious than the Saints are letting on, or they've been impressed enough with Ayodele's performance that they believe he is the best man for the job. To be honest, I have no idea which of those two theories is more likely at this point. My hope is that Ayodele will continue to improve as he gets more playing time, but my opinion is the Saints are weaker at defensive tackle now than they were when the season started.
