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Drew Brees isn’t under center at quarterback for the New Orleans Saints anymore, but their roster still has enough top-end talent to compete with anyone. That’s illustrated well in Pro Football Focus’ ranking of the 50 best players in the NFL right now, ahead of the 2021 season.
New Orleans was represented by five players — a full tenth of the total — and that doesn’t even count linebacker Demario Davis, who placed high among a dozen near-misses for the list. What’s interesting is of those five standouts, all but one plays offense, which helps back up the narrative that whichever quarterback ends up replacing Brees will enjoy a strong supporting cast.
This is something we’ve seen before; the Saints have sent more players to the Pro Bowl than anyone else in recent years, and they’ve been frequently recognized on the annual All-Pro teams. But who made the cut for PFF? Here’s where each Saints selectee ranked, and what PFF analyst Sam Monson had to say about each of them: