Tag: Carl Granderson

3 key matchups to watch in Saints vs. Texans

C.J. Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception yet in his career. The impressive rookie versus a talented Saints secondary is one of several key matchups in Week 6:

The New Orleans Saints travel to face the Houston Texans. The Saints are looking to sustain the momentum from last week’s game. Despite the offensive explosion, the strength of the team is still their defense. For that reason, two of the three feature the New Orleans defense. The Texans feature an offense led by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, a front runner for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Though the offense takes a lot of shine, the Texans come in with a strong defense as well. They’re led by first year head coach DeMeco Ryans, and he has his defense playing stout. Similar to the Saints, a strong suit of this defense is the ability to keep points off the board. Here are the three matchups to watch this week in Saints versus Texans.

Studs and Duds from Saints’ much-needed Week 5 win over the Patriots

We’ve got our Studs and Duds from the Saints’ much-needed Week 5 win over the Patriots:

It’s tough to criticize a team after such a lopsided win, but the New Orleans Saints maintain high standards and so should we. We’re recapping the game with our Week 5 Studs and Duds, highlighting peak performers and those who left a bit to be desired.

Here’s who stood out (for good and bad) after Sunday’s 34-0 win over the New England Patriots:

Saints’ 2024 to-do list looking very manageable after Cesar Ruiz, Carl Granderson extensions

The Saints’ 2024 to-do list is looking very manageable after extensions with Cesar Ruiz and Carl Granderson. But it all hinges on Derek Carr:

The New Orleans Saints’ 2024 to-do list is looking very manageable after extensions with Cesar Ruiz and Carl Granderson took two of their most important free agents off the board. With those two young players signed for the foreseeable future (along with team captain Cameron Jordan), team decision-makers will be able to focus on upgrading the roster rather than retaining talent.

But it all hinges on Derek Carr. The veteran quarterback has shown some good things (and some vulnerabilities) through his first couple of starts. Everything about the plan general manager Mickey Loomis and his top assistants Khai Harley and Jeff Ireland have drawn up relies on Carr fielding a playoffs-ready offense. If the Saints can reach the postseason with Carr putting points on the board, the plan ahead is crystal-clear.

So what does the future hold for the Saints? Here are the hurdles in front of them in 2024:

Saints reach agreement on four-year contract extension with DE Carl Granderson

The Saints reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension with defensive end Carl Granderson:

Whew: the New Orleans Saints have reached an agreement with defensive end Carl Granderson on a four-year contract extension, as first reported by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the deal is valued at $52 million with $35.3 million guaranteed; Garafolo adds that annual $2 million incentives raise the deal’s maximum value to $60 million. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the spring.

Granderson has developed into a really effective player for the Saints. He’s going into their Week 3 game tied with Cameron Jordan for the team lead in quarterback pressures (11, per Pro Football Focus) and 1.5 sacks. Coaches have spoken about him as an ascending talent who has worked hard to bulk up and refine his skills after turning pro.

He’s come a long way. Granderson spent part of his 2019 rookie season in a Wyoming jail cell after being charged with sexual battery, ultimately serving a year’s probation. He’s stayed out of trouble since arriving in New Orleans and the Saints clearly believe he’ll continue to be a big part of what they’re wanting to do defensively in the years ahead.

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Saints should pounce after Bears grant DE Trevis Gipson’s trade request

The Bears have given veteran DE Trevis Gipson permission to seek a trade, and the Saints would be a great landing-spot:

This could be a great fit: ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that the Chicago Bears have given veteran defensive end Trevis Gipson permission to seek a trade, and the New Orleans Saints would be a great landing-spot. The fourth-year pro has 10 sacks and 5 forced fumbles through his first three years and 40 games in the NFL, and the Saints don’t have a lot to hang their hats on at defensive end. Gipson’s pressure totals in each of the last two years would have ranked top-five in New Orleans.

Cameron Jordan’s production has slowed down in the final years of his career. Carl Granderson is facing high expectations as a part-time player promoted to the starting lineup. Payton Turner is finally healthy and practicing well but he needs to prove he can sustain it in games. Rookie draft pick Isaiah Foskey doesn’t appear to be in line for a big role this fall, which is typical for Saints defensive ends.

Go further down the depth chart and you’ve got guys like Niko Lalos and Kyle Phillips competing for a spot on the practice squad. Veteran backup Tanoh Kpassagnon has been taking practice reps over guards and centers, helping to bolster the defensive tackles depth chart and find ways to get him on the field. The Saints could use a proven commodity like Gipson.

Gipson, 26, was a fifth-round pick out of Tulsa back in the 2020 draft. He meets the athletic thresholds the Saints look for at 6-foot-3 and 263 pounds, with an unofficial 9.36 Relative Athletic Score. Fowler adds that Gipson “could be looking to get back to a 3-4 scheme” and the Saints have run enough three-man fronts in recent years to keep him happy.

New Orleans lacks a reliable starter on top of the depth chart opposite Jordan. Granderson has had a productive summer, but he’s averaged just 24.7 snaps per game in his career. Gipson has averaged 34.2 snaps per game the last two years in Chicago’s starting lineup. And like Granderson, he’ll be a free agent in 2024. If either of them leave for a new team on a nice contract offer the Saints could get a compensatory draft pick back to balance out what they spent to acquire him.

And there are plenty of snaps to go around. Jordan’s snap count should continue to go down a bit as he continues to age (his 49.4 defensive snaps and 27.3 pass rush reps per game were a career-low), creating opportunities for younger players to get into the game. The Saints could split reps between Granderson and Gipson at the right defensive end spot while working Turner in as well, which could be wise given his injury history — slowly ramping up his workload to limit his exposure to injury.

Last year the Saints faced about 38 pass attempts per game. If that’s close to what they expect this season, Granderson and Gipson could both easily plan on seeing 15 to 18 pass-rush snaps each week. Turner would get about 10 reps of his own until he’s proven he can handle more. They could also each occasionally line up on the left side along with Kpassagnon and Foskey, if he’s active, in relief of Jordan.

There’s room for Gipson on the depth chart. The Saints have enough salary cap space to afford him (he’s owed about $2.7 million this year) and it shouldn’t take a hefty package of draft picks to get him out of Chicago. But the coaching staff has expressed a lot of optimism in what Granderson and Turner can do together opposite Jordan, so we’ll have to wait and see whether they ultimately make a move.

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Payton Turner earning first-team reps at Saints training camp

Payton Turner is earning first-team reps at New Orleans Saints training camp. A third-year breakout could be just what he and the team needs:

It’s no surprise that the New Orleans Saints are tweaking their first-team defense by rotating cornerback Alontae Taylor in with Paulson Adebo — that’s the headliner in a number of training camp battles up and down the roster, with even head coach Dennis Allen watching closely. But did we overlook one of the undercard fights?

On Thursday, third-year defensive end Payton Turner moved ahead of Carl Granderson as the starter opposite Cameron Jordan, having earned the opportunity with several impressive plays a day earlier; stopping a run behind the line of scrimmage on one rep and forcing a Jameis Winston throwaway on another. Granderson joined Adebo on the second-team defense, but odds are the coaches will rotate players around and encourage competition as the summer continues.

“I think it’s a combination of something that he’s earned, and we’re looking to see, ‘Who’s going to be that guy that’s got to line up on the other side of Cam Jordan?'” Dennis Allen responded when NewOrleans.Football’s Mike Triplett broached the subject after practice. “And somebody’s got to, not be given that role, somebody’s got to take that role. He’s earned the right to get those reps, now it’s what he does with them.”

Turner made the most of the chance to run with the starters on Thursday by generating several pressures. It’s encouraging to see this from him after injuries and poor play limited him to just 13 games through his first two years. Hopefully it continues when pads come on in a few days, when the Saints preseason games kick off in three weeks, and when the bright lights come on in September. As Allen said before training camp, it’s not the end result that matters most here for Turner — it’s the process.

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Saints could fill their biggest team need with these free agents

Defensive end is the biggest team need for the New Orleans Saints. Unproven commodities on the roster could push them into exploring free agency | @southexclusives

As the New Orleans Saints prepare for the beginning of training camp, the defensive end spot on the other side of Cameron Jordan still remains an uncertainty. Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton highlights this issue by labeling the Saints as an ideal landing spot for multiple free agent defensive ends.

There’s a strong argument it is the biggest hole in the starting lineup. The other unknowns are the other starting cornerback alongside Marshon Lattimore and the third linebacker. The cornerback battle between Alontae Taylor and Paulson Adebo is between two players we’ve seen perform well before. The third linebacker rarely sees many snaps in the Saints defense behind Demario Davis and Pete Werner with New Orleans favoring nickel and dime personnel to get more defensive backs on the field.

Beyond Payton Turner, who has been missed most of his first two seasons either with injuries or as a healthy scratch, the options at defensive end include Carl Granderson, Tanoh Kpassagnon and Isaiah Foskey. Those are two rotational pass rushers and a rookie. Granderson seems primed to step into a larger role. But there isn’t a proven commodity there. Most other positions on the roster either know who is going to lead that position or have players who have shown more in their potential role. Defensive end doesn’t check either of those boxes, so it’s the biggest hole on the team. Here are three players highlighted by Moton:

25 most important Saints of 2023: No. 24 Carl Granderson

Second on our list of the top 25 most important Saints for 2023 is a returning defensive edge with explosive strength and a quick get-off: No. 24, Carl Granderson | @ClutchWDN

Rookie training camp opens in only two or so weeks for the New Orleans Saints, with veterans reporting a week later. This is the first sign that the NFL season is getting closer and closer, and as always, the roster turnover has been mostly completed by this point.

So with that in mind, from now until the beginning of veteran training camp, we will be going over the top 25 most important New Orleans Saints for the 2023 season. This will be split up into the following categories:

  • Recap of their 2022 season
  • Projecting their 2023 success
  • What is the biggest question mark for them in 2023?

Today we continue the series with No. 24, who was voted by the Saints Wire team to be defensive end Carl Granderson. A returning component to the Saints front seven, Granderson will be looking to take on a bigger role with the new-look defensive line:

CBS Sports lists Payton Turner as a make-or-break player this season

CBS Sports rightfully lists Payton Turner as a make-or-break player this season. The Saints’ DE needs to show the team something | @DillySanders

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The New Orleans Saints shocked even its own fan base in the 2021 draft by selecting the project pass-rusher Payton Turner out of Houston in the first round. There was always at least something to be excited about in the prospect of what Turner could become, but injuries have kept that from happening thus far.

CBS Sports, rightfully so, listed Turner as someone who is entering a make-or-break season in 2023. Here’s the reasoning from their Chris Trapasso:

A mid-November rookie year injury prematurely ended what was an otherwise bland debut season in the NFL. 

Last year had a similar theme. Turner hardly played early then missed action due to a litany of injuries, including a Week 11 ankle issue that sidelined him all the way until the penultimate game of the regular season. Altogether, Turner has mustered 23 quarterback pressures on 209 pass-rushing snaps and three sacks in 23 contests.

There is still hope that Turner can, excuse the pun, turn things around in his young NFL career. There will be snaps to be had in the rotation, but he’ll need to compete along with Carl Granderson and Isaiah Foskey across from Cameron Jordan. Turner has looked good when he has played, he just hasn’t played enough to warrant that first round selection. His NFL career has been tough so far, but if he can show the resilience to bounce back and compete, then anything could be possible in his career.

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PFF’s ranking of the Saints defensive line misses the mark

PFF’s ranking of the Saints defensive line misses the mark, with no mention of the rookies they just drafted in the first and second rounds:

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This ranking from Pro Football Focus missed the mark, with no mention of the rookie defensive linemen the New Orleans Saints just drafted in the first and second rounds. Despite having set out to rank every defensive line around the league, PFF’s Zoltan Buday only made note of the Saints’ projected starting end players while ranking the unit fourth-worst in the league:

Edge defender Carl Granderson enjoyed a breakout season in 2022, and his emergence meant that veteran Cameron Jordan was not the highest-graded defensive lineman on the Saints for the first time in years.

Nevertheless, while Granderson’s emergence is a promising sign, Jordan’s age and potential decline, together with the lack of starting-caliber players in the middle of the line, are causes for concern for Saints fans.

Granderson has made progress year over year, but he’s still closer to being a rotational pass rusher rather than an every-down starter. And what’s with the overlooking of both Bryan Bresee and Isaiah Foskey?

It’s true that the Saints defensive line got pushed around last year. That’s why they let so many players walk away in free agency: mainstays like David Onyemata and Shy Tuttle among them.

New Orleans hasn’t cashed in with the 2021 first-round pick they invested in Payton Turner, either, who has been limited to just 13 games through his first two seasons (only partly due to injury; he ended the 2022 season as a healthy scratch).

So some skepticism is warranted. And it’s probably wise to look at Bresee and Foskey as unknown quantities. It’s unclear what roles they’ll have right out of the gate and how impactful they’ll be in their first year in the NFL. But to ignore them altogether feels like an oversight, not to mention the additions the Saints made along the interior in free agency, having signed veterans Nathan Shepherd and Khalen Saunders to replace Onyemata and Tuttle.

If the group can be at least as effective as they were last year, great — but you’ll have to excuse us for feeling optimistic and expecting greater things.

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