New Orleans Saints reporter Jeff Duncan reports on Monday that the Saints will have one of their former greats as a guest assistant coach this preseason. Former NFL DT La'Roi Glover will serve as a Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching fellowship for the Saints during training camp.
The Saints have brought back former players as ''guest'' coaches several times in recent years. Most recently, former WR Ted Ginn Jr. was with the team during minicamp and OTA sessions. Jahri Evans and Ty Warren were with the Saints last offseason. Evans would wind up getting an assistant offensive line coach position with the team. Zach Strief also started as a temporary coach, parlaying that into a permanent position.
Glover, 49, played 13 seasons in the NFL at defensive tackle after being a fifth-round pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 1996 NFL Draft out of San Diego State. He played one year in Oakland, then joined the NFL Europe Barcelona Dragons for one season. Upon his release by the Raiders, Glover was signed by the Saints in 1997.
(Former New Orleans Saints DT La'Roi Glover. Credit: New Orleans Saints)
Glover played five seasons in New Orleans, where he blossomed into one of the league's top interior defenders. From 1997 through 2002 with the Saints, Glover appeared in 79 of a possible 81 games. He had 50 sacks, over 50 tackles for loss, and an interception while forcing or recovering 16 fumbles.
In 2000, Glover led the NFL with 17 sacks. That tied a franchise record with LB Pat Swilling that remains to this day. It earned Glover 1st Team All-Pro honors and was the first of six consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. Glover was voted onto the 1st Team All-2000s squad by Pro Football Reference and 2nd Team All-2000s by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Upon leaving New Orleans as a free agent in 2003, Glover played four years with the Cowboys and his final three campaigns with the St. Louis Rams. He ended his career with 83.5 sacks, forcing or recovering 24 fumbles, and 93 tackles for loss.
Since retiring as a player in 2008, Glover was an assistant defensive line coach for the New York Jets (2017-2018) and Los Angeles Chargers (2019-2020). He served as the defensive line coach for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL this past spring.
(Former New Orleans Saints DT La'Roi Glover. Credit: neworleanssaintshistory.com)
Considered an undersized tackle at 6'2" and 285-Lbs., Glover proved critics wrong to become a dominant defender. His presence should be beneficial to a New Orleans defensive line that has a lot of new faces.
End Isaiah Foskey and DT Bryan Bresee were the team's first two draft choices this spring. Free-agent DTs Nathan Shepherd and Khalen Saunders were also new additions this offseason. Underachieving DE Payton Turner is coming into his third year after being a 2021 first-round choice by the team.
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