With free agency looming, Pro Football Focus analyst Ben Linsley listed one perfect free agency signing for every NFL team. For the New Orleans Saints, Linsley assigned wide receiver Will Fuller V. As for his reasoning for the selection, Linsley said this:
The return of Michael Thomas should give a shot of life to the Saints passing offense, but they could still use a wide receiver who can challenge defenses vertically. There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get 17-plus games of Fuller in 2022, as the veteran’s one-year deal with the Dolphins last season highlights.
Chances are that his next team doesn’t get a full season, but the big-play ability he brings to the table is worth taking a flier on with a one-year deal for a team with a tight cap situation like New Orleans, though. Fuller graded in the 92nd percentile of all wide receivers in receiving grade vs. single coverage in 2020, the last time he saw significant action.
PPFF projects a one year $7 million contract with $6 million in guaranteed money for Fuller in this free agency period. While I do have love for Fuller, after using him for years on Madden and always accruing ridiculous statistics against my friends, I do not believe that he is the perfect answer for the Saints in free agency. His role as a deep threat could be addressed easily during the draft in mid to late rounds or with an even cheaper free agent.
Zay Jones and Marquez Valdes-Scantling are also both just sitting there and would each be better options for the Saints, in my opinion. Those may not be the superstar, homerun signings Saints fans are looking for, but that’s not the role we would even be filling with Fuller in the first place.
While Fuller may bring more talent than some others on a surface level, the cliché saying “the best ability is availability” should be taken very seriously when taking a look at potentially signing Fuller. Fuller has never played a full season in the NFL, his most appearances coming during his rookie year of 2016. He played in 14 games that season. The Dolphins signed him to a one year, $10.6 million deal just last off-season to then only get two games and eight targets out of him.
It pains me to say all of this, as a noted Fuller fan for his entire career, but I don’t believe the Saints can afford to be the ones to take that risk. I mean that both literally and figuratively.
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