New Orleans Saints free safety Pierre Warren (42) celebrates after intercepting a pass intended for Chicago Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery (17) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 15, 2014, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
CHICAGO — Rookie Saints safety Pierre Warren only has four NFL starts to his name, but that’s been more than enough for him to learn a truth about his chosen profession.
It can seem like the most difficult thing in the world one moment, like when the Saints left him off the 53-man roster at the beginning of the season and later released him from their practice squad.
In the next instant, it can be the most thrilling thing in the world, like when Warren intercepted his first two career regular-season passes during New Orleans’ 31-15 victory over the Bears (5-9) at Soldier Field on Monday night.
“I wasn’t expecting none of this a month ago,” said Warren, who had been on the Saints’ roster 28 days when he spoke with reporters in the visitors’ locker room of Soldier Field on Monday. “They brought me back in here just for takeaways, and I know that; so it felt good … to finally show everybody what they brought me back here for.”
The value of Warren’s contributions against the Bears was obvious. In front of a primetime, national television audience, he picked off a deep pass by Bears quarterback Jay Cutler to the Saints’ 13 on the last play of the second quarter, which allowed New Orleans to preserve a 14-0 lead at halftime.
The Bears kicked off to open the third quarter, and the Saints (6-8) immediately widened that advantage to 21-0. Then, late in the third quarter, Cutler misfired on another deep throw, this one to New Orleans’ 23. Warren hauled in the errant pass and ran it back 21 yards before he was pushed out of bounds. That set up a field goal by Saints kicker Shayne Graham that made it 24-0 in favor of New Orleans.
The Bears and Cutler (who finished with three interceptions) had no prayer to revert that score. They fell to 5-9, and New Orleans improved to 6-8 to take sole possession of first place in the NFC South division by a slim margin with two games left.
Warren stood tall among the many people the Saints could thank for that in the latest chapter of one of the most compelling storylines of New Orleans’ 2014 season.
Out of Alabama’s Jacksonville State, a member of the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision, the undrafted Warren intermittently flashed at training camp, breaking up passes, intercepting throws and knocking the ball out of opponents’ grasps in drills at training camp.
But as camp phased back to New Orleans, the Saints gave a significant look to other safeties such as Marcus Ball, who spent 2012 and 2013 with the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. Though Ball missed the last two exhibition games with a hamstring injury that sidelined him through the end of September, Warren did not crack the first 53-man roster. New Orleans went with three-time Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd; 2013 first-round draft choice Kenny Vaccaro; fourth-year pro Rafael Bush; Vinnie Sunseri, the rookie out of Alabama; and Ball at safety.
The Saints stashed Warren on their 10-man practice squad. He was there for 17 days before an injury to a linebacker forced them to bring in another player at that position to the practice squad to not compromise depth during mid-week team drills. Warren was unemployed for 19 days before latching onto the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, and he remained there for more than six weeks.
But Byrd tore a meniscus in a practice before an Oct. 5 Saints win in New Orleans. Sunseri broke his left forearm in a defeat at home against San Francisco on Nov. 9. And Bush fractured his right fibula at the Superdome in a loss to Cincinnati on Nov. 16.
Byrd’s, Sunseri’s and Bush’s seasons all were over. At safety, that left Vaccaro, Ball and Jamarca Sanford, who had played with the Vikings from 2009 to 2013 but was acquired by New Orleans as a free agent after Sunseri went down.
The problem was neither Vaccaro, Ball nor Sanford were deep-lying free safeties in the mold of Bush or Byrd. But Warren was, and he had spent the preseason mastering the Saints’ playbook. The Saints’ front office signed him away from the Vikings, and he’s since started in two wins and setbacks each for New Orleans.
Aside from his two interceptions, he recovered a fumble in his first game with the Saints, giving him an eyebrow-raising three takeaways in his brief stint in New Orleans so far.
“He’s got good ball skills,” Saints coach Sean Payton said Monday. “We were in the right spot and then making the play was big.”
Warren said his being initially cut by the Saints wounded him. “It’s always painful not to make the (roster) when you think you should,” Warren said.
But Warren sensed a day like Monday could come sooner than later.
“It’s the ups and downs of this business,” Warren said. “I just kept pushing.”
And the Saints’ playoff outlook is the better for that.