The vision for what Isaiah Stalbird could be started to crystallize before he ever played a defensive snap in the NFL.

It was early in the summer, when the almost entirely new New Orleans Saints coaching staff was just starting to get a bead on its roster. They’d just about wrapped up organized team activities, doing stuff that barely qualifies as football, when defensive coordinator Brandon Staley noticed something.

“You could just see the speed, kind of effortless speed,” Staley said about Stalbird.

At that point in time, Stalbird’s résumé was limited to five NFL games in his 2024 rookie season. All of his professional playing time — a whopping 83 snaps — had come on special teams. He is the classic definition of a “tweener” in NFL parlance; a 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker who

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