Report: Ex-Jets Defensive Back Brian Poole to Sign With Saints

Brian Poole's tenure with the New York Jets is officially coming to an end.

A free agent this offseason, Poole told Josina Anderson that he intends to sign a one-year deal with the Saints on Monday. 

Poole, 28, only played in nine games with Gang Green last year, his second campaign in green and white. His productive season was cut short thanks to season-ending shoulder surgery.

In 2019, Poole appeared in 14 games with the Jets, starting in 10. He'll part with a total of three interceptions, 12 passes defended and 103 tackles in a Jets uniform.  

There was a chance Poole could've re-signed with New York, returning with a new coaching staff to help a young secondary. According to Anderson, Poole was excited about the prospect of contending with New Orleans and a chance to work with veteran secondary coach Kris Richards. 

While the Jets made several improvements on both sides of the ball this offseason, the organization chose to get even younger in their secondary. New York brought in Lamarcus Joyner to bolster the group and provide a veteran presence, but most of the additions were brand new faces via the NFL draft.

New York's 2021 draft class includes Duke’s Michael Carter II, Pittsburgh’s Jason Pinnock and Kentucky’s Brandin Echols. Undrafted free agent Isaiah Dunn could factor into the equation this season as well.

They're set to join a core of returning defensive backs including Bless Austin, Bryce Hall, Javelin Guidry and Lamar Jackson. 

Did the Jets Do Enough to Fix Their Cornerback Problem?

As much as it made sense to bring in a bigger name, utilizing cap space to sign a shutdown corner and a player to help serve as a mentor in the DB room, head coach Robert Saleh explained this offseason that adding older players would only take formative reps away from these high-upside youngster that are starving for development. 

"Right now the focus completely is on the guys we have," Saleh said in May. "We're excited about the group that we have, we really are. And we're excited to work with them. We'll cross that bridge with regards to veterans when we get to that bridge, but right now, the sole focus is just on our guys."

Jets senior defensive assistant and cornerbacks coach Tony Oden delivered a similar sentiment later in the offseason. 

"We've got young guys you can kind of mold that don't have a lot of battle wounds and a lot of scars, or a lot of things you got to unteach or they have to unlearn," Oden said in June. "It's kind of like you started with a mold of clay that hasn't been fully shaped just yet. So we can put our hands on shape them the way we want them. I kind of look at it as a positive, because they're young, they're eager, they're trying to improve, they're trying to do it exactly the way that we want them to do it."

In the long term, sticking with this group of inexperienced defensive backs could pay off in a big way. Without players like Poole, they'll get all the attention leading up to the regular season and plenty of in-game reps starting with Week 1. 

For now, however, this secondary could be a liability at times, as we saw during New York's two-win campaign a year ago. 

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