Roman wasn’t rebuilt in a day

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, May 25, 2007  |  Comments( 3 )

New Orleans Saints
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The unwritten rule with most NFL teams is that a starter can't lose his position because of an injury. Therefore, Roman Harper came into the New Orleans Saints' official training activities this month listed as the No. 1 strong safety.

For Harper, it was a long wait. A rookie last season after lettering four years at Alabama (and leaving ranked sixth in career tackles), the 6-foot, 200-pounder was improving steadily when he tore his left ACL in a game with Tampa Bay last Oct. 8 -- a game in which he had already registered a career-high seven tackles.

Harper and Rob Ninkovich, a teammate and fellow knee injury victim, worked together during the offseason, building up strength after their surgeries. Through it all, Harper refused to wear a knee brace.

"I'll definitely be ready for training camp," he said. "I'm about 85-90 percent now."

The injury that Harper suffered sometimes takes more than a year to overcome, and his appearance at the OTAs in Metairie, La., was a relief to his coaches.

Steve Gleason and Jay Bellamy took over for Harper when he went down, but he still managed to contribute 27 tackles before being hurt -- something that never happened to him in college (Gleason also had knee surgery after the season).

"It showed me how much I love to play football," Harper said. "Having to stay on the sidelines was hard."

Harper is strong, aggressive and a sure tackler. He is not, however, a speed burner (4.65), and so his biggest challenge has been learning how to deal with the league's jet-propelled receivers.

"It's just a confidence thing that they trusted me a little bit," Harper told the Monroe News-Star, "even though I got hurt and went down early last season. I guess they believe in what I did early. That really showed them a little bit that I could still play."

Weekly New Orleans Saints coverage, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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