Category: Saints

The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best centers.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

The NFL’s top 12 offensive tackles

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best offensive tackles.

Things have changed a lot in the NFL’s offensive tackle hierarchy of late, and sadly, for all the wrong reasons. On last year’s list of the league’s best tackles, David Bakhtiari of the Packers ranked first overall, and Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley ranked third. Then, Bakhtiari missed all but one game last season due to an awful knee injury he suffered late in the 2020 season, and word is that he might be ready for training camp this season.

As for Stanley, he missed all but six games in 2020, and all but one game in 2021 with an ankle injury that required multiple surgeries. As is the case with Bakhtiari, the hope is that Stanley will be ready for training camp.

We do not like this. We would prefer to see the best tackles in the business dealing with the best pass-rushers on a regular basis, but this is where it is.

The… well, not “good news,” but the thing this allows, is new names to discover and analyze. In many cases, the new guys on our list this year are players who needed time, patience, and coaching to reach their full potential. You’ll see a few players who came into the NFL, looked like open gates early on, and then figured it out. We always like to see that, at any position.

We have also seen an increasing blurring of the lines in the importance of left tackle and right tackle. As the NFL becomes more of a quick-game league, the front-side protector had best be on point. Five of our tackles this year ply their trade on the right side, including our second- and third-best.

As for the best offensive tackle, outside of Aaron Donald’s place atop our list of interior defensive linemen, no choice was easier than this. If you’re a 49ers fan, you can skip right ahead and start gloating.

Here are Touchdown Wire’s 12 best offensive tackles heading into the 2022 NFL season — along with links to our position lists to date, which lead to our list of the 101 best players overall.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

The NFL’s top 12 centers

The NFL’s top 12 offensive guards

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Sports Info Solutions, Pro Football Focus, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).

The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the best centers in the NFL today.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

Every NFL team’s most underrated player heading into 2022

These players don’t get the recognition they deserve in the NFL.

The NFL has no shortage of superstars who are the face of the league. But there are plenty of impact players in the NFL who don’t necessarily get the recognition they deserve.

Whether overlooked or ignored all together, these players are significant contributors for their respective teams. They’ve had proven success but haven’t necessarily gotten the praise they deserve.

Our NFL Wire editors examined the most underrated player for each team heading into the 2022 season, highlighting why they’re deserving of recognition.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

Doug Farrar kicks off Touchdown Wire’s NFL positional lists with the 13 best safeties in the league.

It is very hard to be a great safety from season to season in the NFL.

When we released our list of the league’s best safeties in 2021, we were pretty sure about the greatness of those players. Just five of the 11 players we listed last year made the cut this time around, and that’s with the move to a Top 13 in 2022, because the position has recently exploded in importance and excellence. We’ll eschew the spoilers for the repeat performers, but Anthony Harris, Harrison Smith, Jessie Bates III, Julian Blackmon, John Johnson III, and Darnell Savage aren’t in this list, and they were all in the mix last season.

In some cases, injuries were the reason — Julian Blackmon, for example. Other safeties simply didn’t perform up to their usual standards, and in most cases, we’re talking about fractions of regression — Jessie Bates, Darnell Savage, and Harrison Smith would certainly qualify there. Other safeties took time to find their way with new teams and new schemes — that would be the case for John Johnson III and Anthony Harris.

For the five repeat guys, and the eight new safeties on this list, there were new challenges. An increase in the importance of both two-safety looks and man/match coverage has made it a different game for a lot of players, as has the ever-expanding roles all defensive backs must play in the modern pro game. This has filtered to the collegiate game, as most of the players listed as safeties in the last few draft classes are less “free” and “strong” safeties, and more moveable chess pieces required to do all kinds of things.

Most of the guys on this year’s list are primarily coverage safeties. It’s great when you can blow up run fits and crossers from the slot, and if you can blitz from the edge, that’s fine, too. But in today’s NFL, where everything is about creating and preventing explosive plays, we wanted to focus on the safeties who do the latter thing best. Not to undermine those who ply their trades closer to the line at a more exclusive level, but when we’re talking about the most valuable safeties in the modern game, you’d best be able to erase deep.

So, with five repeat entrants, and eight new guys, here are Touchdown Wire’s top safeties for the 2022 NFL season. It’s the first of 14 different position lists written by myself and Mark Schofield, leading up to our list of the NFL’s top 101 players.

Saints to break out new helmet in 2022

The Saints revealed a new helmet and it is sharp-looking

The New Orleans Saints made a fashion statement on Thursday.

The NFC South team revealed it will wear a black helmet for a game or games in the 2022 season.

Pretty sharp look.

Saints sign veteran wide receiver Jarvis Landry

The New Orleans Saints with another strong target for Jameis Winston, signing Jarvis Landry

You can go home again if you are Tyrann Mathieu and now Jarvis Landry.

The former LSU stars will be playing for the New Orleans Saints in 2022.

Landry, who spent four seasons each with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, revealed his decision on social media Friday.

Landry has made 688 catches on 1,045 targets in his NFL career. He is at 7,598 receiving yards and 37 touchdowns, 22 with Miami.

The Saints have bolstered their receiving corps with Landry, first-round pick Chris Olave out of Ohio State, and they hope to have the great Michael Thomas return in 2022 after missing last season due to injury.

Mathieu signed as a free agent this offseason after parting ways with Kansas City.

What’s next for New Orleans, adding another former LSU star Odell Beckham Jr., who is also a free agent?

Sean Payton says his focus is on landing a television job

Expect to see Sean Payton on television in the 2022 NFL season

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton did an extensive interview with Dan Patrick on Thursday. After 15 seasons coaching the NFC South team, Payton is eyeing a new challenge: television.

Payton said he received texts from people at multiple networks regarding opportunities with them. He said he wanted to see what television execs believe would be the best fit.

That means Payton wants to find out whether his next home will be in the studio or as a game analyst.

His name has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Troy Aikman as a partner with Joe Buck should the Hall of Fame quarterback exit FOX Sports for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football package as has been prominently mentioned.

Payton said he is not going to return to coaching this season, though a couple of people who know people from NFL teams had checked in his interest.

Payton said any team that wanted to check in on his availability would have to go through the Saints first. He is under contract with them through 2024.

Returning to coaching eventually is a possibility, Payton said. However, television is his priority.

He also said the Saints’ uncertain quarterback situation did not play into his decision to leave the team.

Payton said the Saints had plenty of opportunities to thrive in the NFC South, with the Falcons and Panthers struggling and Tampa Bay possibly in flux.

He spoke highly of the New Orleans defense as well as the offensive line and mentioned Michael Thomas returning for the 2022 season.

The full interview can be heard below:

Sean Payton stepping down as Saints coach after 15 seasons

Sean Payton is stepping down as Saints head coach

Sean Payton is leaving the New Orleans Saints. Whether he is retiring to find a home in a broadcast booth or moving on to another team remains to be seen.

The long-time Saints coach stepped down on Tuesday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Payton leaves New Orleans with 161 wins, 68 more than Jim Mora, the Saints’ second-winningest coach. He is 152-89 in the regular season. He is 9-8 in the postseason with a Super Bowl victory on his resume.

Payton spent 15 seasons patrolling the Saints sidelines, and he finished with a winning record in 10. He never coached a team that went worse than 7-9. He missed one season in the aftermath of the Bountygate scandal.

Payton’s name bubbled up over the weekend as a candidate to replace Troy Aikman in the FOX Sports broadcast booth if the Hall of Fame QB leaves to work on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts.

Of course, if he wants to continue coaching there would be numerous suitors.

Saints’ Ian Book throws pick-six on 2nd NFL pass

Ian Book of the Saints threw a pick-six on his second NFL pass

The Miami Dolphins gave Ian Book an unfriendly welcome to the NFL.

The rookie quarterback from Notre Dame started Monday for the depleted New Orleans Saints.

His first pass went for a short completion.

His second went to the Miami Dolphins’ Nik Needham after being tipped and was returned 25 yards for a pick-six.

Not quite as bad a debut as Sam Darnold had with his first throw for the New York Jets, which went for a pick-six … but close.

The Dolphins led 7-0 after the PAT in a game between 7-7 teams.