The New Orleans Saints have taken quite a few hits to the linebacker corps this offseason. Firstly, they lost Kaden Elliss in free agency to the Atlanta Falcons, and then recently placed Andrew Dowell on injured reserve for the year due to a torn ACL. Demario Davis has been limited in practice with a calf injury. This has led the Saints to have somewhat of a depleted linebacker unit, which they now may be looking to fix. They have scheduled a meeting Monday with free agent linebacker Anthony Barr, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings. ESPN’s Dianna Russini first reported news of his visit.
The four-time Pro Bowler has been a consistent starting-level linebacker for his whole career, which included last season where he started in 10 of the 14 games he played in for Dallas. In that span, Barr had 58 combined tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 fumble recoveries, a pass deflection, a sack, 7 pressures, and only 3 missed tackles (4.9% missed tackle rate). In every season of his career aside from one, he has seen 600-plus snaps defensively, the one exception being 2020 where he was injured for all but two games.
While Barr has not necessarily been up to the level of his Pro Bowl-caliber years, he has been a quality starting linebacker both for Minnesota and Dallas. The Saints desperately need another veteran presence in the room, and bringing in Barr would most certainly make sense with the current roster construction. We’ll see if a deal materializes.
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