Dennis Allen joined WWL radio for the coaches show and gave an interesting outlook on the New Orleans Saints’ current roster, specifically the young players.
Allen doesn’t believe the Saints have any great young players, that would include Chris Olave. Erik McCoy feels like just aged out of being a young player. The first player who jumps to mind, however, is Olave.
When describing the roster, Allen said, “I think we have some good young players. I don’t know that we have any great young players, or at least we’re not in that position at least yet. I think we still got some young guys that are developing that we hope can continue to get better and improve.”
This just feels like an odd position for a head coach to take publicly. Even by leaving the door open for those players to become great, it feels like a slamming of the current roster.
Maybe Allen felt comfortable saying this because he believes, “You can win a lot of games with a lot of good players. You don’t have to have a ton of what people might consider great players. You need tough, smart, competitive football players that play the game the right way.”
Allen does believe they have those type of players. He just doesn’t think you need great players to win football games. He’s right if the coaching is great. Something has to be great for you for you to win a lot of games.
When you’re 2-6, coming out to say you don’t believe you have great young players gives the appearance of a coach blaming the roster for the team’s shortcomings. Everything else he said afterwards can’t erase the leading statement.