With the official announcement Thursday, Sept. 9 that cornerback Bradley Roby has been acquired by the New Orleans Saints, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen expanded on some of Roby's best qualities, including the fact that he played at Ohio State, a favored mining spot for New Orleans.
Allen believes the Saints possibly can pull another rabbit out of their helmet.
"I like his size, length, speed, athleticism," Allen said of Roby. "He's really smart. And I think that he is going to fit in much like Jackrabbit (Jenkins) did when we brought him in here (in 2019). When you team him up with (Marshon) Lattimore as well as some of these other guys in (Desmond) Trufant and (Paulson) Adebo, I feel like we just added another piece to the puzzle. You can never have enough good corners, they're hard to find in this league. And I think when you look at his statistics, you'd say that he stacks up pretty well in our league."
Roby, a first-round pick in 2014, has 10 interceptions (three returned for touchdowns) in 99 games, with eight forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and 75 passes defensed.
ADEBO ON DECK: With cornerback Ken Crawley having missed practice this week with a hamstring injury, the possibility increases that Adebo, New Orleans' third-round draft pick, might be starting against Green Bay. "Let's make sure we all understand that no matter who you are, the best cornerbacks in our league, going up against (Packers quarterback) Aaron Rodgers is no easy task," Allen said. "Certainly that's a challenge. But we've seen (Adebo) perform at a really high level throughout training camp. And so, this isn't something where if he's out there, where we just said, 'We're doing this by default.' He's played really well. Every opportunity that he's had – he had two opportunities in the preseason, and I thought he performed really well. Hopefully, if he's called upon to be out there and play, then he'll go out there and do his job. And we feel confident that he's able to do that."
THE CHRONICLES OF 21: On Wednesday, we noted how often the No. 21 has been utilized by different Saints players this offseason/training camp and preseason. Well, possibly, add another player to the list because running back Tony Jones Jr., who wore the 21 on Wednesday, was in jersey No. 34 on Thursday. The new wearer of 21 likely will be Roby; terms of any transaction are unavailable. But Roby would become the fifth Saints player to wear the number in less than seven weeks. Cornerback Patrick Robinson had it, and he retired on Aug. 10. Since then, cornerback Prince Amukamara (released), cornerback Natrell Jamerson (released) and Jones have worn it, briefly.
