Tag: Carl Granderson

WATCH: Carl Granderson putting in the work to help replace Trey Hendrickson

New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson is training to help replace Trey Hendrickson, one of the team’s big departing free agents.

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There’s a big opportunity ahead of Carl Granderson, who joined the Saints as an undrafted rookie in 2019. He broke out in 2020, his second season, bagging 5 sacks and 19 total quarterback pressures on just 194 pass rush snaps (per Pro Football Focus). With Trey Hendrickson leaving the Saints’ rotation in 2021, there will be chances for backups like Hendrickson and the recently-added Tanoh Kpassagnon to take the next step.

Granderson took a long road to get here. He spent 43 days in a Wyoming jail on misdemeanor charges until his case was handed to a different judge, who changed his sentencing to a year of probation. He’s since kept his hands to himself and stayed out of trouble, and now he’s working to be the best pro he can be.

He’s been working out with coach Aaron Day, a personal trainer based in California who specializes in developing pass rushers. Day shared some highlights of Granderson’s progress so far, along with a stated goal: ten or more sacks in 2021. That might seem lofty for a player with just 6 career sacks, but Hendrickson went into the 2020 season with only 6.5 takedowns to his name. The factors are there for Granderson to experience similar success.

Like Hendrickson, Granderson is very explosive out of his stance, often beating opponents to their spot before they’re able to lurch into motion. He’s also very flexible in his lower body, which allows him to get under blockers’ arms and bend the edge on the way to the quarterback. He hasn’t had as many opportunities to show it from the bottom of their depth chart (with just 283 career pass rush opportunities, per PFF), but Granderson is a fitting comparison in the right circumstances to the athletically-superior Hendrickson.

Whether Granderson can put all of his tools together to help make up for what the Saints have lost with Hendrickson joining the Bengals remains to be seen, but he’ll have every opportunity. Hendrickson had 101 more pass rush snaps in 2020 than Granderson has had in his career. Those snaps have to go somewhere, so it’s good to see that he’ll be prepared. He’s going to be a restricted free agent in 2022 that the Saints can retain at low cost, so he has plenty of time to build momentum towards a potentially lucrative contract in 2023 — at the same time as the salary cap skyrocketing once new NFL broadcasting rights deals are activated.

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Sean Payton comments on Marcus Davenport’s elbow injury

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton commented on Marcus Davenport’s elbow injury, saying that he doesn’t expect the DE to be sidelined long

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The NFL draft is hyped up as the event when teams seek to get better by adding fresh talent from the college ranks, so it was frustrating to see the New Orleans Saints prepare for their Week 1 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers without the most valuable players they’ve picked in recent years.

In a Monday appearance on WWL Radio, Saints coach Sean Payton preached patience with one of those players: third-year defensive end Marcus Davenport, ruled out with an elbow injury suffered late in training camp.

“Look it’s gonna be soon here Davenport’s back,” Payton said. “He’s got an injury that if you try to hustle him back too early, [he would] be out for a lot longer. We’re gonna be making the right decisions regarding his health.”

If there’s a silver lining for Saints fans here, it’s that Davenport didn’t start the season on injured reserve. NFL teams are allowed to sideline players on I.R. for three weeks at a time this year, so if this were a long-term problem for Davenport then he would have been designated to the reserve list.

It might suggest the Saints expect him to be back in a week or two, which is supported by Payton’s comments. We’ll learn more when the Saints publish their first injury report on Thursday.

Fortunately, the Saints backups did a great job filling in for Davenport across from starting end Cameron Jordan. Jordan saw his usual majority of snaps (60, 85.7% of the defense’s total) with Trey Hendrickson (39 snaps) and Carl Granderson (23) rotating in. Versatile practice squad call-up Margus Hunt (21 snaps) also got some looks out on the edge. Both Hendrickson and Granderson got onto the stats sheet with sacks, and Hendrickson was credited with a pair of other quarterback hits.

It was enough to raise the hackles of Bucs coach Bruce Arians. After reviewing the game tape on Monday, he roasted left tackle Donovan Smith, who was charged with blocking the Hendrickson-Granderson combo in Davenport’s absence.

“I was very disappointed in his play,” Arians said. “I think every now and then he reverts back to some techniques that are not very good [and] he got beat. He had, probably, the easiest guy to block up there and he did a poor job. It was one of his poorer games and [I] expect for him to bounce back this week, yes.”

The Saints will visit Tampa Bay for a rematch on Nov. 8, under the bright lights on Sunday Night Football. And Smith will probably be drawing a matchup with Davenport, who beat him for a pair of sacks in their meeting last year. The Saints pass rush got off to a great start against the Buccaneers, and it looks like they’re set up to keep that momentum going.

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Saints release veteran defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr.

The New Orleans Saints released veteran defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr., saving more than $2.3 million against the 2020 salary cap.

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The New Orleans Saints have started trimming their roster down to just 53 players, and there’s a bit of surprise to one of their first cuts: defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr.

Edwards signed with the Saints last summer and appeared in 14 games, totaling 293 snaps played on defense. But the Saints can save $2.345 million against the 2020 salary cap by parting ways with him, and improved depth along the defensive line made him too expensive of a luxury. That raises their salary cap estimate to about $9.3 million.

Expect the Saints to round out the rotation behind Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport with returning backup Trey Hendrickson and second-year pro Carl Granderson — unless they’re able to land pricey free agent Jadeveon Clowney. The salary cap resources saved by releasing Edwards may go a long ways towards fitting Clowney onto their books.

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