A Saints Fan's Question

**praglen** · 03-19-2009, 07:42 PM

I have read a few Viking fans' comments about Sharper and gathered the following three points:

the Vikings decided to go younger at safety

Sharper is getting long in the tooth, is not as fast and not playing at his former level

The reason his production was down last year was because he was moved to SS from FS

Which is it?

**Tad7** · 03-19-2009, 07:48 PM

I like the way Zeus put it

"Zeus" wrote:

I can accept that the scheme might not put him in position to make interceptions.

But the scheme has nothing to do with him missing tackles.
It had nothing to do with him looping over and knocking Ced Griffen down while trying to get a meaningless interception in a blowout loss to the Packers.
It had nothing to do with him trying to pick up a fumble at the goal-line so he could run it back, rather than just falling on the loose ball.

He'll probably get more picks than the ONE he got here last season but he'll have quite a few plays that make you say WTF as well. I wish Sharper the best of luck though...

**GreenBaySlackers** · 03-19-2009, 07:49 PM

I'm going to assume that by the indeterminate 'it,' you mean the reason sharper was not retained. I think the answer to that question is the same as the answer as to why only two teams were interested in his services and it took this long for one to make an offer:
He isn't very good anymore.

Missed tackles, blown reads, no recovery speed.
His best days are behind him, why pay starter money to a non-starting caliber player?
He wasn't retained because sometimes you have to move on.

I'm sure there are hundreds of pages of debate about this.

**jmcdon00** · 03-19-2009, 07:51 PM

Sharper is old and not very good, he will likely be a top 3 player on the saints defense though. ;D

Welcome to PPO, stop buy the Free Beer and properly introduce yourself.

**happy camper** · 03-19-2009, 07:53 PM

Remember when we played the Bears on MNF in 2007 and he got the game winning INT and tried to run with it?
:

**ultravikingfan** · 03-19-2009, 07:54 PM

Sharper is a liability now.
Way past his prime....way.

**VikingsTw** · 03-19-2009, 07:57 PM

Sharper can still play at a decent level, if given the correct system I think he will continue to make plays, I just hope you guys didn't do more than a 2 year contract. Sharper was not a good fit for the cover 2, we rely on players to play with'n the scheme, he's a free lancer, he is a guy that likes to take chances. He did what he had to do in our system but he didn't make alot of plays, his first couple years with us were better then his last.

My biggest problem with Sharper last season was how he broke down in the open field, instead of attacking he seemed more on his heels, our young safety Tyrell Johnson was much better in run support and open field tackling. Given the right situation Sharper can still do well. He will make some plays and still has decent speed for his age, he does a good job of taking care of his body. He's a confident guy but will run his mouth, probably didn't fit in well with us in terms of that.

**mark** · 03-19-2009, 08:29 PM

"ultravikingfan" wrote:

Sharper is a liability now.
Way past his prime....way.

He was the best safety we had.So i guess we might need a safety now

**gregair13** · 03-19-2009, 08:34 PM

Will sharperimage have to change his username?

**VikingMike** · 03-19-2009, 08:37 PM

Sharper was always at his best as a free roaming safety, a ball hawk. But that does not work with our cover-2.

Now he's old, slowed down a bit...and like was mentioned before, a lot of missed tackles, bad pursuit angles taken, and one fumble not pounced on that cost us a game.