New Orleans Saints Sophomore Spotlight: Vinnie Sunseri

The New Orleans Saints draft class only had one shining star last year, but several are looking forward to the second year-leap that many players experience.

One of those players is safety Vinnie Sunseri. His rookie season was cut short when he fractured his arm in Week 10, forcing him to miss the rest of the season.

Now that he is healthy, he is trying to make the most of his opportunities as Sean Payton and his staff mix and match players in different positions and alignments during training camp.

"“One of the things we’ve tried to do throughout the OTAs and the minicamp is not get set in the ones, the twos, the threes,” Payton said. “So you’re seeing a mixture of rotations that we’re purposely trying to accomplish.”"

Sunseri made significant contributions on special teams last year and the Saints seem to continue to value him as a core special teams player.

Kenny Vaccaro sat out of some drills early on in training camp, which allowed Sunseri to run with the first team as well as rotate with the second and third team units.

Vinnie Sunseri with the grab in drills #Saints https://t.co/qLbfeMik4I
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) June 17, 2015

Vinnie Sunseri will be an interesting piece for Rob Ryan and Dennis Allen to utilize in the secondary. His skillset translates to Kenny Vaccaro; they are both tough, athletic players that play with very good instincts.

Sunseri will most likely have a prominent role on special teams and as he gets more comfortable with the defensive scheme, a solid backup safety for the Saints.

The Saints put an important value on special teams players that can perform. Barring any physical setbacks, Sunseri should be able to make the team and make a name for himself during the 2016 season.

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