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The New Orleans Saints drafted Payton Turner out of Houston at the 28th overall spot in the 2021 NFL draft. Since then, he’s only played in 13 games and has just three sacks in his career. But, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report listed him as someone who has a chance to shed the bust tag this season:
He was picked ahead of Gregory Rousseau, Odafe Oweh and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka in the first round. The Houston alum was drafted to carry on the Saints’ reputation for having productive defensive ends, eventually filling the role of Cameron Jordan.
It hasn’t panned out that way. Injuries have limited Turner’s development as he has played in just 13 games in his first two years in the league.
Turner was already going to have a hard time carving out a role on a team with Jordan, Marcus Davenport and Carl Granderson. Not being able to stay on the field has limited those opportunities even more.
Turner was drafted because of his size and athleticism, but was always viewed as a bit of a project coming out of college. That project has stalled a lot early in his career due to being unlucky with injuries, not yet playing in more than eight games in a single season.
He’s still young, entering his age-25 season, so now is as good a time of any to take make that crucial turn. The pressure is also slightly down now, with his own expectations lowered and eyes set on Isaiah Foskey for the future of the defensive end position. It also means Turner still doesn’t have any guaranteed snaps, so he’ll have to earn them in camp.
When Turner has played, he has looked promising. Right now it’s about just staying on the field. Having him turn it around this season would give the Saints a couple of promising young prospects between him and Foskey to lock down the future in a post-Cameron Jordan world.
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