Five Saints Players Stock To Watch Against Texans On Sunday
Cornerback Kyle Wilson
Aug 7, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Headshot of New York Jets cornerback Kyle Wilson (20) during a game against the Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Wilson’s quite similar to wide receiver Willie Snead when he signed with the Saints, meaning I for one thought it was simply a camp body signing — given the bad reputation he had gotten near the end of his time with the New York Jets.
After being drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Wilson reminded me of former Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson who was also drafted in the first round in 2010.
Both corners came in with expectations of helping lock down one side of the field with their speed and quickness, but both failed to live up to that and were mainly inconsistent.
That trend continued and I even pondered the notion about five months ago if we had let one Patrick Robinson walk just to sign another.
Wilson was less than spectacular during OTA’s and in training camp with the only mention of him being linked with phrases like “Wide receiver (fill in the blank) just got by Wilson for a big gain”.
With big time free agent Brandon Browner and Keenan Lewis entrenched as starters, Wilson looked to even be behind the eight ball competing against second-year man Stanley Jean-Baptiste as well as rookies P.J. Williams and Damian Swann.
Jean-Baptiste along with Williams likely weren’t going anywhere considering they are upper round picks while Swann showed he’s been catching a bit of lightning in a bottle.
Wilson played just 33 snaps in the first preseason game against the Ravens but due to injuries he garnered more playing time against the Patriots and almost doubled his snap count with 62 snaps out of a total of 79.
He also showed a marked improvement in not just the two preseason games, but in training camp the past several weeks where immediately following last Saturday’s game he came up with an interception in Sunday’s practice.
A theory floating around is that with Williams missing a majority of practices with an unspecified injury, he could be headed to injured reserve for the season which would help Wilson’s chances.
Also helping Wilson out is Jean-Baptiste has not been progressing as fast as the Saints would like and he received a -2.4 from ProFootballFocus.com for his performance during the Patriots game which was the worst for the cornerback group.
Wilson can climb a few more rungs on the ladder of the depth chart if he has another strong performance in the Superdome on Sunday.
Stock Watch: (Rising)
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