Notebook: Young DTs nearing bust status

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He stood on the sidelines for most of the game, seeing a street free agent start in his place. Johnathan Sullivan entered last Sunday's game with Seattle when Brian Young went out with an injury, and even then he did little.

This isn't quite what the New Orleans Saints had planned for Sullivan when they traded away two first-round picks last year to move up to the sixth spot in the first round to get him in the draft.

Dewayne Robertson has yet to justify the Jets taking him No. 4 overall in 2003. (Getty Images)

They thought they would get a cat-quick player who would anchor the middle of their defense for years to come, not an immature kid who hasn't learned to do what it takes to succeed in the NFL.

"He did nothing when he got in the game, either," said one Saints official. "He's just being outplayed right now by the other guy (Howard Green)."

Miles away to the north, another second-year defensive tackle is trying to rebound from a horrible rookie season. At least Dewayne Robertson of the New York Jets is starting, but he hasn't come close to living up to his pre-draft hype, which led the Jets to trade two first-round picks to get him.

See a trend here?

Those two teams, desperate for interior line help, thought they were getting the next Warren Sapp. Instead, they both might have been duped.

Robertson, who was called Baby Sapp coming out of Kentucky, was the fourth player picked in the 2003 draft. The Jets traded the 13th and 22nd picks in the first round and a fourth-round pick to get Robertson.

He did little as a rookie, although he did start all 16 games. Robertson finished with 34 tackles, nine assists and 1½ sacks. He looked sluggish at times, playing at 335 pounds, making him more like Baby Fat than Baby Sapp.

Robertson has shed 20 pounds this season, but he had just one tackle last week in the Jets' victory over the Bengals. The idea he would become a penetrating inside player who can disrupt things looks a ways away right now.

As for Sullivan, he came to camp over 30 pounds overweight. So he spent the camp getting in shape, walking miles before every practice and again after it.

Eventually the weight came off, but the pilot light still hasn't come on. The Saints thought when he trimmed down, he would move into the starting lineup. Instead Green, a reject of the Houston Texans last year, is holding onto his starting job.