Kenny Vaccaro – The Newest New Orleans Saint
By James Benoit
We know now that Kenny Vaccaro will be joining the fold in 2013. In his Texas Longhorns career, Vaccaro racked up 261 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and 5 interceptions. Let’s take a look at how he will impact the New Orleans Saints next year and beyond.
First and foremost, I’d like to take a deeper look into the entomology of the word safety. The definition given for safety is: the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss. It is from the Latin, salvitas. The deeper and most literal meaning is salvation. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that Kenny Vaccaro is the savior of the New Orleans Saints, or that he’s going to carry the team on his back in year 1, but he is a very freakish athlete with tremendous potential. He may even boot Roman Harper out of the starting lineup if he has a decent camp.
Apr 25, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Kenny Vaccaro (Texas) is introduced as the number fifteen overall pick to the New Orleans Saints during the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Kenny Vaccaro was dealing at Texas in 2012, and his 104 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 2 interceptions last year are impressive stats to say the least.
Standing at 6’0 214, he has the size to frustrate NFC South wideouts for years to come. It could just be that I’m biased and filled with the hype that surrounds the NFL Draft, but Kenny Vaccaro to me is a can’t miss prospect with such incredible athleticism and a natural gift for playing the game.
To me, his 4.63 40-yard dash time isn’t totally indicative of his playing speed. In film, he seems much quicker, and his ability to get to just about any ball is uncanny. Vaccaro will almost certainly be a perfect complement to Malcolm Jenkins. When looking at game tape, he reminds me a lot of Darren Sharper.
The New Orleans Saints have not known a year with as many takeaways as 2009, when they had 39 in the regular season and 8 in their run to their Super Bowl championship. Kenny Vaccaro is fantastically heavy hitter in Sharper’s mold, and he can blitz when asked to.
Though it seems difficult to imagine that the New Orleans Saints will ever have a truly productive season defensively as far as yards allowed and keeping plays in front of them, Rob Ryan’s attitude and the New Orleans Saints’ new defensive scheme should play well in the coming years. I’m sure Sean Payton is highly motivated to have a good draft that will set him up for a stellar 2013 in all areas. I think Kenny Vaccaro is just the first of many defensive additions between now and the start of the 2013 NFL season, and I like the way that things are shaping up already in the Big Easy for next year.
I’ll leave you with a look from Sports Science to give you a little bit of a feel for just how awesome Vaccaro could be flying around the field in Black and Gold in 2013. His 40.5 inch vertical leap, and change of direction speed are both pretty impressive qualities to me! If after watching this video you still think I have rose-colored glasses on, take a search for yourself around YouTube and the internet for this kid’s video highlights, and I’m sure you’ll be as impressed as I am.
Welcome to the fold, Kenny Vaccaro. Black and Gold 2013, and Who Dat Nation proudly welcome you to the best city in all of sports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOW8jeo4sY