Saints 53-Man Roster Moves Are Both Obvious And Curious

Defensive Line

Aug 22, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) is grabbed, but not sacked, by New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Bobby Richardson (78) in the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

The Obvious

-It was an undrafted rookie free-for-all during camp and preseason as Bobby Richardson lead the pack and received half the defensive snaps in all four preseason games at defensive tackle and defensive end, with his best performance as an end.

-Tavaris Barnes and Kaleb Eulls both did a serviceable job at their time as defensive tackles in preseason, although Barnes is listed as an end, and performed well in run defense and are good depth for the Saints.

-Although Kevin Williams didn’t have a Pro Bowl preseason, the Saints weren’t letting him go especially the down year John Jenkins had.

The Curious

-Defensive tackle Ashaad Mabry thought he was safe on the roster only to be let go a few hours later in a puzzling move to acquire former Seattle Seahawks 2015 six round pick defensive end Obum Gwachum

Gwchum at 6-5, 249 lbs.(a tad small for an end) is said to be a “raw talent” considering he only played one season on defense at Oregon State after being a wide receiver…sound familiar?

-On the flip side 2015 fifth round pick Tyler Davison and Mabry played almost the same amount of snaps on defense with Davison grading out on worse than Mabry according to ProFootballFocus.com….like almost twice as worse overall.

Davison is a big body with potential and his fifth round status kept him on the roster, but he never stood out to me more than Mabry did.

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