Turning the corner

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Aug 1, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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JACKSON, Miss. — Even though he’s opened 48 games in his eight-year NFL career, New Orleans Saints safety Kevin Kaesviharn has been a fulltime starter for just one of those seasons.

But that could be changing soon.

Kaesviharn, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, has been working with the Saints first-team defense at free safety since offseason workouts began in mid-March and could be the starter when they open the season on Sept. 7.

Kaesviharn, who started three games in his first season with the Saints in 2007, stepped into the No. 1 free safety spot when veteran Josh Bullocks was rehabbing from arthroscopic knee surgery in January.

When Bullocks opened training camp last week on the physically unable to perform list, Kaesviharn kept the spot. And he’s shown no signs of giving it up, even though Bullocks returned to practice Saturday.

While the two figure to  battle it out over the next four weeks to see who starts beside strong safety Roman Harper in the regular-season opener against the Tampa Bay Bucs, Kaesviharn said he figures the team will be better for it.

“A lot of people are making it out to be me against Josh, but it’s not about that,” said Kaesviharn, who played in the Arena League and briefly in the XFL before landing a job with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001. “It’s about who’s going to give our team the best chance to win on Sunday. He and I both understand that.

“We’re competing and that helps us both get better, personally, as players. But we’re both going to do what’s best for the team. We can only do what we can do and we’ll let the coaches make the decision from there.”

First-year secondary coach Dennis Allen, one of the coaches who’ll be making the decision, said he likes what he’s seen so far.

“Kevin’s a pro and he’s gone about it the right way. He prepares himself every week like he is the starter and when he’s called upon to be the starter he goes in there and does an excellent job,” Allen said. “We’ve got a battle for the starting position there and we’ll see how it plays out.”

Kaesviharn, who turns 32 later this month, is no stranger to competition in training camp. But in six seasons with the Bengals, Kaesviharn started all 16 games just once — in 2005.

His career stats, however, show he’s more than a part-time player. In 103 games, he has recorded 393 tackles, six sacks and 15 interceptions — including a career-high six in 2006 while starting just seven games.

“He’s one of those guys that you don’t notice anything special about, but at the end of the day he’s made a couple of tackles, he’s batted a ball down, he’s made an interception,” Allen said. “He’s a consummate pro; he’s always in the right spot.”