Saints almost like home for Clancy

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, June 14, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

New Orleans Saints
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Say you work for a construction company as a bricklayer. One day, your boss calls you aside and says, "We just hired another guy, and he's asking for a lot of money, so you have to take a pay cut. If you don't, you'll be fired."

Fortunately, this sort of thing doesn't happen in real life -- but then again, the National Football League isn't real life. So when defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy was given the aforementioned either/or scenario by the Arizona Cardinals earlier this month so the team could accommodate high draft pick Alan Branch, he was out the door.

But not for long. Experienced defensive linemen are never easy to find, and the New Orleans Saints quickly became the proverbial "door that opens when another one closes" for Clancy, a 6-foot-1, 310-pounder out of the University of Mississippi.

Going to New Orleans was actually a no-brainer for the 28-year-old. He played with Saints running back Deuce McAllister at Ole Miss, where he was also coached by current New Orleans D-line coach Marion Hobby.

Just one problem.

"Man, it's hot here," said Clancy, who had just finished his OTAs in Arizona and was promptly thrown into workouts in Metaire, La.

Clancy sounded philosophical about his situation in comments to the local media.

"Someone gets drafted as high as he (Branch) did, they can't afford to pay both us," he said.

The Cardinals had given Clancy a four-year, $8.1 million contact when he left the New York Giants, but his play last season was hampered by a nagging high ankle sprain. Clancy finished with 37 tackles and a single sack.

With the Saints, his first role will be to back up nose tackle Hollis Thomas. But Thomas is 33, overweight and suffers from asthma. Plus, head coach Sean Payton used a rotating system on the defensive line last year, and Thomas, Clancy, Brian Young, Willie Whitehead, Rodney Leisle and Antwan Lake are all in the mix.

"Having him (Clancy) here will help us from a depth standpoint," said Payton.

Yet Clancy's agent said after his client signed that New Orleans had offered him a good shot at a starting job.

Clancy didn't even take that much of a pay cut to come to New Orleans -- $5.2 million over three years.

Ironically, New Orleans passed up the chance to draft Branch, a stud DT out of Michigan, in order to take wide receiver Robert Meachem of Tennessee instead.

Somehow, it all worked out.

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