Sedrick Ellis – Can He Achieve A Haynesworth Playing Level With The Saints?

Sedrick Ellis was one of the most coveted defensive tackles in the 2008 draft next to Glenn Dorsey.

Depending on who you talked to some preferred Ellis over Dorsey, and some Dorsey over Ellis.

In my opinion I think Ellis is better than Dorsey, not just because Ellis is a Saint and Dorsey a Chief, but because numbers don’t lie.

In 2008 Ellis played in 13 games, recorded 30 tackles, 4 sacks, and 5 pass deflections. Dorsey meanwhile recorded 46 tackles, but only managed a single sack and pass deflection.

A clear distinction that Ellis is probably going to be the more dominant player in the NFL, although you could make the argument that it’s too soon to jump to that conclusion.

Albert Haynesworth is widely considered the most dominant defensive player in the league today, evident by the record setting 100 million dollar deal the Redskins used to pry him away from the Titans.

Haynesworth is equally as large as he is athletic standing at 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, the defensive tackle creates mismatches for opposing offenses with his strength and incredible agility for a player his size.

The question is, can Ellis be as dominant as Haynesworth?

All you have to look at is the rookie stat lines for both players, and actually Ellis comes out ahead in all categories.

In Haynesworth’s rookie season in 2002 he totaled 30 tackles with 1 sack and 3 pass deflections. Re-visiting Ellis’ stat line, he totaled 30 tackles (Saints website has him at 42) with 4 sacks and 5 pass deflections.

In fact if we compare Ellis to the rookie seasons of the top DT’s in the league today he compares favorably to every one:

• Kevin Williams 2003 rookie season: 51 tackles with 10.5 sacks and 3 pass deflections along with 1 interception.
• Darnell Dockett 2004 rookie season: 39 tackles with 3.5 sacks and 2 pass deflections along with 1 interception.
• Tommie Harris 2004 rookie season: 43 tackles with 3.5 sacks and 2 pass deflections.
• Shaun Rogers 2002 rookie season: 48 tackles with 2.5 sacks and 2 pass deflections.

Ellis will look to improve on his impressive rookie campaign this upcoming season – the rookie jitters are gone and a new blitz happy defensive coordinator has taken over the rains.

The answer to the question can Ellis be as dominant as Haynesworth, absolutely.

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