Welcome in to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, present a buy seacake. You'll hear from players, coaches, broadcasters and writers that cover the NFL on a daily basis. The New Orleans Saints Podcast starts right now. Here's your host, Aaron Summers.
Welcome to the New Orleans Saints Podcast. Aaron Summers here today we are getting some more insight on the defensive picks in the Saints twenty twenty five draft. To kick things off, they again went with a longhorn to start things on the defensive side, third round pick defensive tackle Vernon Broughton. Broughton started fifteen games in twenty twenty four, recorded a career best thirty nine tackles and had four sacks.
Broughton reunites with his former defensive line coach Joe Davis, who is now with the Saints.
Heyvern, what up, Chicken leaves? How you doing? You're doing all right? Yeah, don't let me down, bro. We're gonna take you brough here in New Orleans. Brother, you may use the basket. Hi, Iman man, congratulations brother, Coach Calvin, I want to talk to you man, he's coach cal.
Congrats man.
We are fired up.
To have you cost your family, have fun with them.
Man, enjoy it.
Later in the third round of Virginia safety Yonah Sanker heard his name called. Virginia defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator Caron Cox joined me for some insight into the pick. Coach, thank you so much for joining me on the New Orleans Saints podcast. I know it's a busy time of year for you, and it was an exciting weekend as you saw a lot of players go in the NFL Draft and one of them, Jonah Sanker,
is going to be with the Saints. How are you doing after seeing him reach this milestone in his career.
Oh, man, it's it's it's a great feeling just of known him, known him for a long time, probably sophomore year in high school, and we've always talked about it and just to see the maturation to get to this point and now he just gets to start doing it all over again. And uh, he called me. We spoke on draft night, and now I had a little chuck on a second. Grads, you finally had a better college career than me. Now you got to beat my NFL career.
So it's been great to see him there with his parents and stuff like that, and we're all excited myself, the staff and his friends, your uba.
Yeah, Jonah's a safety coming in here, going to be playing under Brandon Staley's new defense with the Saints. How do you think he's going to fit in?
Uh?
I think you'll just well, that's something we've talked about for a while and obviously something coach spoke about there when they took him. It's just I'll to allow him to do a lot of things, so the multiplicity will be something that he's not gonna have to be mind blown on.
He'll make the adjustment.
Something I harped and we harped his special teams and he was a key contributed for us and as something else that they liked for it, you know, and just kind of just with anybody, just the way that they
adapt is how fast they eliminate distractions and adjust. So I think I think the great opportunity going in and what you got, what they do there is fantastic, And you know, he's a great coordinator and a great system, so I think he'll be able to translate it at some point and we'll see the success downline.
He was able to achieve consistent success there at Virginia, especially the last two seasons, leading the calves and tackles each year. What led to the type of production he was able to have on the field.
I'd probably say just off the field growth and just his dedications to just trying to change his best day in the day out. And you know when I came in and nicknamed him to the side, and he thought he came to save UVA football from eight and man football, But he just tremendous just a film study, the buying in the weight room, the off the field nutrition, and then just the mindset. He just wanted to attack everything and be the best that he could. So it's competitive nature.
So I think that all put together, you know, it was a great recipe for success, and just the cars lined up and it was in his cards, and I mean, he had a tremendous career that helped propel get that opportunity now to go there and translate it.
He received the Heart Award embodies the core values of the program. Can you explain a little bit more about that award and what it is about Jonus that made him the selection for it?
Of course, yes, so Heart is kind of just the academics that stand for our core values, something we speak about here day in and day out as we're trying to look to build champion then and we choose to do that by serving their heart, not the talent, and the academics for humility, effort, accountability, respect, and toughness. And you know, just as that spoke on just his resiliency to do that and something that you guys may be aware of. It's just he was able to achieve that,
be a leader, do great in that classroom set. Is never missed anything all while, you know, helping battle. You know, his father's condition being at home. He was there at home, taking his little brothers and sisters anywhere he needed to go, and never missed a beat here and what he did so he just kind of embodied what we're trying to build as a program and what type of young men we'd like in our program to be successful on and off the field, and how he did anything. So he
did everything. So he was a heart and soul of our defense and our team and that's kind of why he got that pro that award for us.
You mentioned his eight man football stardom in high school, but coming from that background. How impressive is it what he's been able to achieve.
Because honestly, already, you know, you just look back and you look out and you're like, wow, you just saw him. You know, a couple of years ago, you know, he just he was battling some injuries. Just we fixed just the mechanical pieces of his tackling. And then, like I said, he just put on twenty pounds and a straight muscle, and just there was no way you couldn't tell him
he couldn't do anything. And you look up and it you know, when you work for I was, I'm a true believer work wins, and if you put in the work, you're not guaranteed to be the best, but you'll be the best at whatever you're trying to achieve. And it's a true testament that he went from playing eight man football battling injuries to not one injury to no miss games.
He's playing one hundred snaps of game and you couldn't tell and you couldn't get him off the field, and there wasn't anything that he didn't do or that we asked him.
You mentioned his competitive nature, and I thought it was funny at the combine, he ran a four four eight, and he was disappointed in his time and his performance there pretty fast for a safety But I think that speaks to what you said about how competitive he is and the work that he puts in.
Yeah, no doubt right.
It's I always stayed on celebrate the small victors man, feed the positive dog. But with him, it was he had been testing and just in numbers were just a lot different than what he was expecting, and so he just had a mindset that he's going to go out and get a little bit better. But when he looked at it and thought about it, it was just like, Okay, that compared to what my uh, the rest of my teammager doing or what everybody else is trying to accomplish.
Is that that?
But you could tell he kind of was frustrated, more so because he's kind of you know, he hadn't breath reading cycle wasn't right. He always wants to do better. But you know, I'm glad that he ran that because that also got showed a lot of people some of the questions they may have had for film and gave him the opportunity as now there.
For you guys.
Yeah, definitely I'm looking forward to having him here and got to talk to him a little bit the night that he was drafted. He seemed really excited, fired up for the opportunity here. What are you going to miss about having him there with you guys.
Probably justice the daily day interactions and I've got to know him and obviously we're meant to turn him throughout. But he became not just a young man I was working with, but a guy that became a close friend of mine. I'll miss from day to day just from being a part of his life, but also won't mess
some defensively. I mean, you know, two time back back first team on conference guy, he was our eraser back there, and now we're going to move forward and hopefully develop another person do that for us defensively.
Yeah, thank you so much for the time. I know you're out on the road right now looking for somebody to fill his shoes, right.
Yeah, yeah, so you guys, trust me. I wish I could just draft him back from you guys. You guys have for now. Hopefully this this trip has another person just like Jonas.
There you go. Thank you so much, coach. I appreciate the time.
All right, take care, Thank you.
On Day three, the Saints went with linebacker Danny Stutsman out of Oklahoma. Stutsman was a consensus All American and Buckut Award finalist. He finished ninth in school history with three hundred and seventy six career tackles. Oklahoma head coach Brent Bennables was so excited to talk to me about Stutsman that he got going before I could even start recording, So I'm gonna have to set up this interview a
little bit. He was asking me about Brian Brazzee because he coached Brizzye at Clemson, and then immediately went in on Stutsman and how Stutsman was one of the highest paid nil earners there at Oklahoma and with some of that money that he got, he went to coach Venables and asked him if he could give that money to the walk Ons.
Hey, I want to give the eighteen walk Homes. I want to give you some money and some of my anil money.
So he's.
A lot of money, and a byproduct of that is the restaurant walk On. They reach out to me and they want in honor of Danny and just basically the partner with Danny stance that he took and just in this space that it's all about what I get, you know, Danny being in the opposite. They were really endeared by that. So they asked me to tuesday walk on to put on full scholarship and they would pay for it. So I put one of the best friends, a fellow linebacker on the scholarship. So anyway, he's amazing.
That's an awesome story. I loved his reaction when he got drafted. He seems like he just has so much energy.
Yeah, he loves he just he loves life. He's he cares about people. He is he's a jokester, likes to have fun, but man, when it comes to football, he is ultra serious about being great and understands what you know, non negotiable standards look like. And he lives in the building and super humble. He's a guy that's a lot of success. But he he took notes all the way to the you know, a very last you know game
that he played in. He's taken notes, you know, like he's a you know, first year freshman, and just he's super respectful for the work that it takes and the diligence, the commitment and the standards. So he's going to immediately just bring value, you know, to the locker room. He'll elevate I'll be one of the best qualities that he
has as people love to play alongside with him. He's super passionate, He's got a unique way of competing and and just creating a nurtures an environment where he gets everybody hungry to chase excellence around him and just as a multiplying the type of effect. And I think the really special leaders that I've been around through the years have this unique ability without without getting somebody's face quote unquote, it's.
By how they do what they do, you know, living in the building, showing up the practice, sitting in the tempo for what we're getting ready to go do at practice today, what it takes, and then he just he's just an amazing example of strain and commitment and over delivering, you know, and never gets tired of it.
And so that's that's what I can tell you. He's gonna just elevate everybody else, you know, through hard work, blue collar mindset, and tremendous humility and respect for what it takes to play. He can beat at a high level. You know at an elite level.
Is that mentality and the way he studies the game part of the reason why he seemed to just have a knack for forcing turnovers.
Yeah, I mean he's big, and he's long, he's physical, he's got good instincts. But it's preparation, it's anticipation, is playing the game before you ever get to game day, you know, one hundred times over. He really he values that and has just holds that in incredibly high respect and regards. You know, how do I make game day going slow motion? Where I'm in fast motion, everybody else
is in slow motion. It's just the preparation, you know, the countless hours of film and you know, very passionate, you know, focused intensity about himself when it comes to you know, walkthroughs and practice things like that.
When he played in high school, he also played wide receiver, and I mean looking at the numbers, it looked like he did extremely well as an offensive player as well. When he was getting recruited, was that an option and why did he choose to be a linebacker.
Well, then the funny story is I was that Clemson when he's coming out, he came to our camp. He's from Jacksonville, so it's not it's not that far up to Clemson. I told him ahead of time, I'd already evaluated him. I said, I really like you. I was only taking one linebacker and I had my guy committed already, Jeremiah Trotter. And I told him I was very honest. I say, you can come to camp right now. We're full.
I got.
I had room for one spot and that's all I got. But I'd love to work with you. You'll get really good work out of it, and I can help you. And I said, you never know, we might have somebody on our roster leave, you know, and then we end up opening the spot. But he was Paul, kind of skinny and rangey, but a super good players. What I saw right away was instincts, link speed, and he was
just disruptive. I loved his I think the instincts and the same type of hips and fluidity and the ability to make catches and traffic and things like that all translate to you as a defensive player too, and so I was very attractive to that. And so he ended up going to Oklahoma anyway. He had a really good gamp. But so I don't know if there was anything told to him, you know, recruiting from that standpoint.
At Oklahoma, I saw a quote from you after the draft saying that he had so much growth on and off the field while you were there. Can you you kind of started with the story about what he did with his nil money, But how did you see that growth?
Was he was a little more silly and thought that you just showed up to games and that's how you played it at a high level. So just teaching them how to study the game, become a student, a true student of the game. Not a cliche, but and you know understand, like when you walk in the building, man, you're you should be the heart and soul every Blue coach thirty years at three different schools. Man, linebackers are
heart sold the football team. You know, if that group ain't right, then the rest of the team going to be a reflection of it. In my my humble opinion of the linebacker coach a defensive coach. But I just I call it how I see it. And so I was there for almost two months and intentionally did not hand out a playbook. I want to see who would come asked for So finally one day ask even the hallway were going up the elevator, and I was pissed.
I'm like, hey, when is your ask going to get serious about being great and come up and get a freaking playbook? Is that, like every going to be important to you? And just that we had a really I had a really it was one sided conversation, but in passionate about you know, what we're trying to do and what it's going to take and if you don't, nobody else will and and uh, he received it really well.
I think he was a little bit kind of shocked and everything had been great and uh, you know, so I parted up to that point, trying to develop relationships and things like that. But in the back of me, I just I'm like, I don't want to I don't want it more than he wants it for himself. But he, at the end of the day, he just didn't know. He's like, oh, I didn't know, you know what I mean.
I hadn't had to do that maybe in high school, and so just learning the depth of you know, how to be a leader and how to be the example and things like that, and you know, from there, he just he took it and ran with it and he's a pleaser. He wants to do well by his teammates and his coaches, and he really cares about doing a good job and his role. You know. I just think it takes a lot of humility, you know, a lot of you know, self awareness, and so he's very you know,
he's hard on himself. He pulls himself to really high standards, and you know, he's confident himself that he also have this tremendous you know, hunger and humility to him that to me are just in viable traits to have.
Well, when you look at the fact that he's able to make thirty seven straight starts, what do you attribute that to? Is it how he took care of himself.
Yeah, Yeah, he took care of himself. He's you know, big into you know, the his body and just you know all the things that you know that looks like
from a recovery module to sleep and hydration. He's just a very disciplined guy, you know, and off the field and on the field, he was in he was up in our offices every night after practice during the season, you know, and he'd come back in the next day and watch tape two on his own, and uh, you know, most guys trying to get out of the building, and he brings his stake up in there and he'd sit right down next to the coaches and let's go through practice,
and you know that we're grading it. We're pretty tough on ourselves when we're going through practice. And uh, but he you know, when we first got to Oklahoma, that wasn't the case. And so we and you know what he did. If you saw that and you go up to the defensive staff room, you know, now after after a practice and during the season, they'll be there'll be thirty five forty guys in there at all the different positions.
And so that was all started by by Danny and and the other linebackers that we had in the group, you know, David Awaiboo and Deshaun White and Danny those those are the guys that kind of flipped the skip that they weren't even coming up on the third floor when we first got to Oklahoma though. But Danny was one of those pioneers and like, Okay, this is what it's supposed to look like and we're going to do it. So yeah, yeah, but he's got great dor building. He's
physically and mentally incredibly tough man. Uh, he's just got great endurance and durability and didn't take care of his body.
So I saw the story about him having a samurai sword in his locker and obviously heard his take on it.
What was yours. I don't get into all the theatrics props. I'm not going to get into all that, you know, end up, but he he would. That is his way of having some fun but also being if he didn't practice as hard as he did, if he didn't come to the meetings and be on the edge of the seat and taking note anything that came out of my mouth, he was writing it down. And then the things that he had to get our guys ready this day, to get our guys every single day, he'd bring that defense up.
He was getting ready to go down in this next drill. Let's go, let's dominate it, you know, And he was, and then he would be about it. If he didn't do all that that I'd been pitched about having swords and stuff in the locker, So I'm not really big into that, but it's just his way of having fun and getting guys, you know, put a smile on their face to go do really hard things. And I think that's what the best leaders do. They get the people
around them to do really hard stuff. Yeah, and I think that's Danny's way of kind of learning, you know, certain guys in.
I am fascinated to see his relationship with Tomrio Davis here because to Mario's preparation at.
Yeah, we watched him a lot in our team meetings. To Mario David, he's got a great testimony.
It's going to be interesting to see their relationship because he's been doing it for a long time at a high level. And it sounds like Danny's going to be us like that.
Well, and Daniel come in and respectfully, you know, find out how he can help the Mario. It won't That's who Danny is, and he'll come in with his head down and go to work. But he'll he'll value, you know, what he can learn from Tomorrio, you know what he's invested in the program.
Well, I appreciate it. I'm sorry that you don't get to coach him anymore.
Yeah. One of my funnest things of coaching, know is watching these guys live out their dreams beyond college. It's such a cool thing and you know, twenty years ago, you know, I had my team, I was religiously followed. And then as you've had more and more guys go to different teams across the NFL, you just become a fan of people and uh, you know, moments and things
like that. So I'm really excited for him and for the sayings they're getting out a guy that is gonna and can bring a lot of value, you know, for that locker room. He's going to elevate it. So and I'm sure it's really good, healthy and he's going to just add to it, I can promise you.
Yeah, well, I look forward to getting to know him a little bit better and watching him on the field. Definitely appreciate you taking the.
Time to share, you bet.
The Saints circled back to another school they had already drafted out of, remember, Louisville quarterback Tyler Shuck going with the one hundred and thirty first pick and Louisville cornerback Quincy Riley. Riley led the Cards with thirteen PBUs and tied the team lead with two interceptions last season. With the Saints last pick, they selected Fideeld Diggs, defensive linemen
out of Syracuse. Diggs transferred to Syracuse after graduating from Texas A and M. He was actually coached at both places by Syracuse defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, who I was able to catch up with about Diggs. Coach Robinson, thanks for joining me on the New Orleans Saints podcast. It's all always good to talk about the coaches after the draft because you know, these players the best of anybody. How awesome was it for you to see some of the guys get drafted.
I think it was really it was.
It was really good to see, you know, just you know these kids, you know, their dreams are right from the recruiting process only to the ups and the downs of those guys through colleges through college. Just to see them with their dream out and especially when they get a chance to get their their name called.
You know, it's special.
From the parents to the to the grandparents, so all the family members they get a chance to watch that and watch that and enjoy it.
It was unique.
And I know where you talk about a gentleman that's kind a little bit more special to me because he's from the city. You get to see the little league coaches there, the high school coaches, there his teammates, so it's pretty special.
Speaking of video, Diggs, he's somebody that you coached two different stops, so you definitely have a good background knowledge on him as a player. What are we getting here in New Orleans?
Yeah, A smart player that loves football. He's gonna be selfless. He's gonna do his ass of him. He enjoys being coach star, he's his biggest critic, so he's gonna constantly look to get better. But you got to get a great human being, you know that's going want un locker room and two things the right way, you know, and he's going to listen and find out who the leaders are and fill their lead and do everything possible to be.
A leader himself.
He's somebody that transferred into Syracuse after graduating from Texas A and M and immediately was voted as a captain there. What does that say about him?
Just the way he.
Handles his everyday business, you know, just being detailed, accountable, relentless, and tough, which we talk about being dark, but he showed us those qualities of a person since Da Medy.
You know, he was a captain in high school. When he got to A and M.
At the part pretty much the sophomore year started to show that leadership role. So he handles his business the right ways before he can act lead. What he does is he takes control of the things he controls himself, his daily habits, and then that leaks over to the other guys. So one thing I think is important that he is that he learned how to follow before he learned how to lead, and it just naturally became the natural born leader.
So I'm excited for him. I am.
Yeah, he led the team and tackles for loss and sacks with seven and a half. How is he able to just come in and be so impactful in his first season there.
Well, he's talented and we knew what type of player he was getting when he decided to make the move and come over with us.
So we were excited to have ing.
And I said, he's selfless as well, because we asked him to do a few different things. You know, we didn't just leave him at a traditional position that deepens in. Due to some injury, we had to play some much linebacker. So for him to go out there and say his my senior year, but I'm doing whatever was asked for from the team. I think he tells you a lot
about who he is. We could let him rush the pass from the edge position the whole year, but we just we couldn't allow ourselves to do that due to we had some injuries at So I appreciate him making a sacrifice for the team and for his own career and doing those things, because those seven the half SATs could have easily been fourteen a half sacks, you know, but he did what was best for the team and
it paid off for him. He's going to have an opportunity to go had a great organization like Nerles Sanson man hopefully make a great career for him.
So I'm interested to see what this defense is going to look like under the new defensive coordinator, Brendan Staley. But versatility is something that he always likes in his players, and the fact that Diggs comes in here with that background of being able to kind of slide into a couple of different positions seems like I would benefit him a lot here.
I think he's done a lot.
We asked a lot of them since his freshman year from a him even over to say, because we asked a lot of them and had him play a bunch of different positions. So he's smart. He has knowledge of the defense. He's going to understand the basics of the offense and what they're trying to do to him.
So this case, he studies. He studies ball.
You know, he had his degree already, so spending a lot of time in this building just studying film and watching the something critiquing itself.
I think it helps that he has the.
Camden native on the team and sees that can the kount of help him from offensive perspective of what they're trying to do. So he has some guys over there, and he has another gentleman over there that was at ANEM as well, So he has some guys on the team that he can look to and lean on just to get some information and some feedback.
He had a guy on the team at Syracuse that he knew pretty well and his brother. How does that happen with you guys moving over and then him coming there and his brother being there.
Yeah, I think due the recruiting process.
You know, I was myself being from Camping, New Jersey, that recruit the area coach fran and him being from Cambia, New Jersey.
He recruits the area. So we knew of his brother for a long time.
You know, I was from Texas A and M where I was at and coach fran from being at Rutgers and then Georgia and recruiting that area. Always had FA team on our radar and things just worked out, you know, for teaming up the side to come to Syracuse. And I think that made things will be more easier for Fordell and his decision process because he could have went wherever he wanted to go once he got in the portal. I'm glad to have both of those guys.
What is video like off the field?
He is laid back, kind of homebody, you know, hang out with his friends.
But other than that, man, he's a guy you never got to worry about on the weekend because he's usually at home watching the table, just hanging out, chilling.
So he's a low key guy.
All right. So we're not gonna find him on Bourbon Street, right, Oh I don't think you will. That's awesome. Thank you so much for the time. If you could just kind of give me a summary or one thing that you'll just miss about having him as your player, man with all missed.
About him, just our relationship and the constant reminders of where he wanted to be and where he wanted to go with his career, and just the constant reminders of what he had to do to get there. Just having a player that you respect the feedback that it gives you, because you know the work he puts in off the field, watching film and some things that he.
May see that we don't see. You know, you you consider what he's saying.
So just he created me to be a great listener to my players and look at some feedback and listen to the feedback that they give us. And man just is relentlessness in his leadership role that he played on the field. That's hard to replace. But man just, he's like a little brother, you know. And and I watched him achieve his goals and I watched him live his dream out and get his name called. So it was the emotional day for us, just from the time from
where he's came from to where he is today. So gever grateful for him and I'm looking forward to watching him now.
Yeah, there was a lot of emotion when he was drafted. You know, you could see the reaction and how excited he was, so really cool happy to have him here and appreciate the time from you. Hopefully you can come check out again sometime.
I'm gonna try to figure something out.
Yeah, I know it's kind of a tough schedule with you guys having your own games, but yeah, it would be awesome if we can have you down here.
Thank you, thank you, Take care you too.
In the conversations that I've had about all of the draft picks, there was one thing that really stood out, and it was the character of these players. There are high character guys who understand the work that it takes to be successful on the fields. They put in that work and they try to elevate everybody around them, and it's going to be really fun having them here in
the building. It all starts Rookie Mini Camp next week May ninth through eleventh, So stay tuned to New Orleans Saints dot com for all of our coverage.
Thanks for listening to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, presented by Seat Geek. Join us three times per week on New Orleans Saints dot com, the Saints Mobile app, or you can tell the load the podcast on iTunes. We'll see you next time right here on the New Orleans Saints Podcast, presented by seat Geek
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