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The defensive line is a strength of the New Orleans Saints, but the team at Pro Football Focus needs to see a little more production out of the big men up front before they’re ready to be ranked among the NFL’s best groups. For now, PFF ranks the Saints defensive line at No. 13 around the league.
While Cameron Jordan is the uncontested leader of the group — and someone who PFF’s Sam Monson pointed out is still one of the game’s most slept-on players, despite his recent accolades — the lack of sure things around Jordan is a problem.
Sure, Marcus Davenport and Sheldon Rankins have all the tools they need to reach blue-chip status. But they’ve each finished the last two years with season-ending injuries. And while David Onyemata has played well as the team’s starting defensive tackle, he hasn’t pressured opponents at a similar rate from one year to the next. Hopefully the three-year contract extension Onyemata signed earlier this summer helps motivate him to find more consistency.
However, what the Saints lack in reliable top-end talent (outside Jordan) they make up for with quality veteran depth. Nose tackle Malcom Brown and free agent acquisition Margus Hunt both have a lot of hides on the wall, and the Saints have continued to find gems in the college ranks like Shy Tuttle, Taylor Stallworth, and Carl Granderson. That could pay off late in the 2020 season.
And how do the Saints compare to their immediate competition? The rest of the NFC South is in flux, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers listed a few spots ahead of the Saints (at No. 11, thanks to bookend pass rushers Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, with nose tackle Vita Vea and wrecking ball Ndamukong Suh inside) while the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers spiral towards the low end of the rankings (at Nos. 22 and 29, respectively).
It’s shaping up for a two-horse race for the NFC South title between the Saints and the Buccaneers, and that extends to these battles in the trenches at the line of scrimmage. Maybe the Saints can find an edge by using their $9 million or so in salary cap space to go get a free agent like Everson Griffen or Jadeveon Clowney.
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