“We just basically put hands on each other. That’s where I really felt a connection,” Fairchild said. “I could just feel in my hands, and his hands…I don’t know, you could just feel that wrestler mindset, that jiu-jitsu mindset kind of connect right there.”
There’s no question now this is Peters’ offensive line room. Pitcher, who accompanied Peters to the Georgia pro day and watched him and Fairchild push around each other, saw something.
“As you guys get to know Scott, (he’s a) tremendous technician (with) a lot of energy for that element of his job. The hand-to-combat, giving guys tools to win in that phase, that’s who he is,” Pitcher said. “It just seeps out of him. So when you see him interact with these young players, they really gravitate to that.
“You see their eyes light up when he starts talking about how he’s going to be able to develop them. That’s what makes us go. That doesn’t mean that’s the only thing that makes us go, but that’s what makes us go first and foremost.”
There should also be no doubt that new defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery and new linebackers coach Mike Hodges have also put their stamp on things. Hodges, who has spent the last eight years coaching the Saints linebackers, saw his phone buzz at his desk Friday night after the second round and excused himself.
“D Knight!! Are you ready? We’re ready,” Hodges told him.
Before his newest player phoned, Hodges called out his biggest attributes.
“He’s a thumper. He’s a run and hit guy who has a lot of flash plays and I don’t think we’ve seen his best football yet even though he’s older,” Hodges said. “Smart. Instincts. Hopefully, he can plug and play and get the room built up the right way. We have to rebuild the culture because there are going to be some new faces in here.”
Hodges went to the South Carolina pro day and found that Knight had been the guy advertised. They went one-on-one while watching film. “He did a good job,” Hodges said. Hodges was concerned about the three schools in six years, and playing his last year in South Carolina. But as a married father of two, Knight divulged in their long conversation that the decisions had been family-based.
“He going to come in here and we’re going to talk about 401Ks,” Hodges joked. “He’s unique in some ways. Just look at his numbers and look at the tape and if you don’t ever meet the guy, you say this guy has chance to have a good impact on the defense.”
Hodges’ big guy in New Orleans had been the one-time All-Pro Demario Davis. Hodges certainly isn’t comparing Knight to Davis (At 248 pounds, Davis is bigger and slightly faster), but he sees a thread.
“What you see is the stroke on contact,” Hodges said. “That ability to make plays sideline to sideline.”
So far, that’s where this draft has ranged in the hunt to fill the spots with culture as well as talent.
“I feel like we’ve gotten critically better in the last 24 hours with the two guys we’ve brought in,” Golden said. “And in changing the dynamic of their rooms, they can move us forward, which is important.”