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The Saints usually play good defense and last year was no exception. They gave up a lot of yards on the ground and their 34 sacks were near the bottom of the league. Other than that, it is hard to find a bad statistic. Three teams allowed fewer rushing scores and seven gave up fewer points overall. The pass defense ranked ninth and was one of two teams to keep opponents under a 60% completion rate. They even created the fourth most turnovers.

Despite their strong performance, New Orleans did not stand pat this offseason. In free agency, they added Chase Young to boost the sagging pass rush and three linebackers including potential starter Willie Gay Jr. The draft brought second-round corner Kool-Aid McKinstry, another linebacker in round five, and depth for the interior line in round six.

A healthy Young would be a big plus. Even if none of the other additions find their way into the starting lineup, they give the Saints much-improved depth. If the offense does its part, this should be a playoff contender.  

Defensive Linemen

The Saints have never been shy about using early-round draft capital on the defensive line. Since 2011, when they took Cameron Jordan, they have used five first-round picks on those positions. It has paid dividends as the 2022 season marked their sixth consecutive with at least 42 sacks. That streak was broken in 2023, and it is not hard to figure out why.

In his 13th season, at age 34, Jordan may have hit the wall. For the first time since his rookie season in 2011, he fell short of 25 solo tackles and had fewer than 7 sacks. At 20-23-2, it was by far his lowest production as a starter. Yes, he dealt with a sore back early in the year. And yes, he played much of the season on a sore ankle. It just feels like there is more to it than that.

Jordan is signed through the 2025 season so he is not likely to retire. Chances are, the organization will let him play out his contract, but we should not be surprised if his role is reduced over the next two seasons. Once he has fully recovered from off-season ankle surgery, Jordan should bounce back but his days as an every-week IDP starter are probably over, especially if Young is ready to go in September.

Chase Young had a great rookie season, totaling 43 combined tackles, 7 sacks, 7 turnovers, 4 batted passes, and a score. Since that time, his career has been more about injuries than football. A serious knee injury cut his 2021 short and cost Young most of 2022. He managed a career-best of 7.5 sacks in 2023 but is now fighting a neck injury that started with a stinger before last season began. In mid-June, Young got a positive report on his latest post-surgery checkup, but his availability for the beginning of the season remains in question.

They will never say it out loud, but the organization has been preparing for life after Jordan over the last few seasons. They finally gave up on Marcus Davenport but picked Payton Turner in round one in 2021 and Isaiah Foskey in round two last year. This spring, it was Young in free agency. Ironically, the guy they turned to as the starter opposite Jordan last year was former undrafted free agent Carl Granderson.

Granderson played well in spot duty in 2020 and 2021, going 22-17-8 with a pair of forced fumbles in limited action. He opened the 2022 season as the third man behind Jordan and Davenport, but when Davenport was banged up again, missing weeks ten and eleven, Granderson stole the spotlight. He went on to see more playing time than Davenport in seven of the final eight games. Granderson finished at 30-23-5.5 but more importantly, won the trust of his coaches.

Granderson was the week one starter in 2023. He went on to lead the team's defensive linemen in snaps and tackles and led the Saints in sacks. At 44-35-8.5 with a couple of turnovers, Granderson was the fantasy game's eleventh-ranked edge defender on the season. He is an excellent three-down player who excels versus the run and is well above average as a pass rusher.

Thanks largely to the strong tackle numbers, Granderson's best selling point is consistency. He reached double-digit points eleven times in 2023. He will not win any sack titles and is unlikely to ever land among the top five, but he should consistently hover around double-digit sacks and be a quality Edge1 for the next several years.

The Saints selected Payton Turner 28th overall in 2021. So far, their return on investment has been horrible. He played 143 snaps as a rookie before landing on IR with a shoulder injury. He played 171 snaps in 2022, missing several games with a variety of health issues. Year three was supposed to be his breakout season. Instead, Turner suffered a turf toe injury in week one and was not back on the field until week 18. There is a ton of potential here, but we are now hearing whispers that he could be on the roster bubble heading into camp.

New Orleans is on a run of bad luck with early-round edge defenders. They selected Isaiah Foskey in round two last year. The injury to Turner gave him a chance to get on the field as a rookie, but a quad injury took that away for several games. Turner and Foskey are the players the team would like to see step up. Veteran Tanoh Kpassagnon is the one they can rely on. He lacks pass-rush prowess but is a good run defender with starting experience who can give the team quality snaps when needed.  

It has been a long time since New Orleans last gave us a great IDP option at the tackle position. David Onyemata was a borderline second starter at times. When he followed coach Nielsen to Atlanta, Nathan Shepherd, Khalen Saunders, Malcolm Roach, and first-round rookie Bryan Bresee were left in the tackle rotation.

Between them, the four tackles put up 78 solo stops, with 95 assists and 8 sacks. The problem was that playing time and production were spread too thin for anyone to have IDP value. Shepherd, Saunders, and Bresee all logged between 523 and 594 snaps. Roach would have totaled about 350 had he not missed five games. As a result, Shepherd was the highest-producing fantasy option, ranking 35th among tackles.

This, however, does not necessarily mean there is no one of interest here in 2024. Breese has the potential to step up in his second season. He is tall at 6-foot-5 and thick at 298 pounds but is quick and athletic for his size. Bresee is relentless from snap to whistle and is hard to move even with double teams. He was quiet in the tackle columns as a rookie, totaling 23 combined stops, but was third on the team with 4.5 sacks. If the coaches continue the same kind of rotation and no one sees more than 600 snaps, it will not matter how good the players are. If they give Bresee more chances, he could put up decent numbers.

The decision on playing time could come down to how well Khristian Boyd plays. If he steps up, the sixth-round rookie could replace the departed Malcolm Roach and eat up about 20% of the snaps. If he is not ready, the team could flip to a three-man rotation, giving Bresee and Shepherd enough opportunities to be relevant.    

• DE Cameron Jordan – Not the player he once was
• DE Carl Granderson – Priority Edge2 with low-end Edge1 upside
• DE Chase Young – Risky option but worth a late-round pick for the upside
• DE Payton Turner – Must show us something first
• DE Isaiah Foskey – Worth keeping an eye on
• DE Tanoh Kpassagnon – No impact
• DT Nathan Shepherd – Possible depth
• DT Bryan Bresee – Sleeper with DT3 ceiling
• DT Khalen Saunders – No impact
• DT Khristian Boyd – No impact