Tag: Kaden Elliss

10 best New Orleans Saints player grades on defense, from PFF

Ranking the 10 best New Orleans Saints player grades on defense, from Pro Football Focus:

There are just two games left to play in the New Orleans Saints regular season, and they still matter. The team is playing meaningful football at the turn into a new calendar year. Despite their 6-9 record, they’re still alive, and some individual deserve a shoutout for keeping the Saints in the mix now that the playoff picture is developing.

To help illustrate those bright spots, we took a look at the Pro Football Focus player grades for the Saints defense, considering those who have been on the field for at least 200 snaps. That gives us an idea of who is getting into more games and making more positive plays. PFF’s grading is too subjective to be very useful but it’s helpful for a quick glance. Here’s the list:

Top 15 Saints player grades on defense from Pro Football Focus going into Week 13

Demario Davis is on top, but Kaden Elliss isn’t far behind. They lead the top 15 Saints player grades on defense from Pro Football Focus going into Week 13:

Demario Davis is on top, but Kaden Elliss isn’t far behind. The veteran linebackers lead the New Orleans Saints player grades on defense from Pro Football Focus going into Week 13. These grades are assembled by charting every player on each snap during a game, then compiled over the course of a full season. Because of that, players with smaller snap counts who only see a small sample size are weighted heavier than every-down defenders.

They aren’t very educational or enlightening about how well someone is performing, but these player grades do make for conversation. Here is everyone inside the top-15 at this point in the year:

4 pending free agents the Saints must re-sign in 2023

LB Kaden Elliss and TE Juwan Johnson are some of the pending free agents the New Orleans Saints must re-sign once the 2022 season is over:

Few teams are in for as active an offseason as the New Orleans Saints, who look to start out over the 2023 salary cap by more than $50 million with 28 players headed for free agency in the spring. They’ll have to bring back many of those guys just to fill out the roster, but some players take priority over others.

So who should they prioritize for contract extensions? Here are four pending free agents that should be easy decisions when it comes time to talk shop:

Best and worst Saints player grades from Pro Football Focus after Week 12

Best and worst Saints player grades from Pro Football Focus after Week 12

The Week 12 player grades from Pro Football Focus are in, giving us a good opportunity at looking back at the New Orleans Saints’ standout performers against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday — for both good and bad. Let’s see who graded highly and, well, who didn’t quite meet expectations:

Studs and Duds from Saints’ Week 12 loss vs. 49ers

Studs and Duds from Saints’ Week 12 loss vs. 49ers: More negative performances than positive impacts in a hard-to-watch loss

The New Orleans Saints (4-8) were dealt an embarrassing 13-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers (7-4) this week, meaning head coach Dennis Allen still has not won back-to-back games through 12 weeks in the 2022 regular season. New Orleans hurt themselves early and often — which we’ll explore in greater detail.

But the Saints actually did some things well in this game. Several players stood out for positive individual performances, and the defense largely did its job. So it wasn’t all bad, even if the game was disappointing. They’re still alive in the weak NFC South and can rally with a win against the hobbled Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week. That feels like false hope, but hey: we’ll take it.

Let’s talk about the standouts on Sunday, for good and bad:

Best and worst PFF Saints player grades from Week 11

Best and worst PFF Saints player grades from Week 11: Chris Olave leads the offense, Kaden Elliss on top of the defense

You never want to read too deeply into the Pro Football Focus player grades each week, given how they’re a big simplification of performance, but they are a useful tool in highlighting which New Orleans Saints players are on the field making positive plays (or being at fault for negative ones) most often. It’s a good starting point towards recapping a matchup, as is the case this week after the Saints’ 27-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

To that point, let’s take a look at the highest and lowest player grades from offense and defense:

Report: Pete Werner had ankle surgery, Saints optimistic he’ll play again in 2022

The Saints are without starting linebacker Pete Werner after surgery on his injured ankle, but they’re optimistic he’ll play again in 2022:

Here’s another New Orleans Saints injury update. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill first reported that linebacker Pete Werner underwent ankle surgery after a recent injury, and the team is optimistic that he’ll return to play before the regular season wraps up. Werner has looked like the best player on the team at times this season, so it would be nice to get him back in the lineup. He exited Week 9’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens with an injury and was inactive for Week 10, but remains on the 53-man roster.

What’s odd is that Werner had surgery but wasn’t designated to injured reserve, but that’s been typical for the Saints this year. They haven’t done a good job of estimating when players would return from injured reserve — wide receivers Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry each missed five or six weeks before Thomas was put on ice for the year and Landry returned, while defensive tackle Malcolm Roach and safety P.J. Williams were both able to return as soon as their four-week term wrapped up. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore has been sidelined five weeks and doesn’t appear close to returning.

It would be a surprise to see Werner back in, say, a week or two so soon after going under the knife but stranger things have happened. The good news is that the Saints have gotten solid play out of their linebacker corps. It’s arguably the strength of their defense with Demario Davis leading the unit and Kaden Elliss filling in well for Werner. But we’ll keep an eye out for movement and any word on when Werner is going to be back out there.

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Best and worst Saints player grades from Pro Football Focus in Week 10

Best and worst Saints player grades from Pro Football Focus in Week 10: Linebacker Kaden Elliss leads the team with a breakout performance

Let’s take another look back at the New Orleans Saints’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, this time with the benefit of updated player grades from Pro Football Focus. We shouldn’t read too deeply into these simplified numbers, but they do give us an idea of who was playing most frequently (only those who logged at least 33% of snaps on either offense or defense are listed) and who was responsible for positive and negative plays. Here’s what we learned from Week 10’s Saints player grades:

Staff picks: Final score, bold predictions from Saints vs. Steelers

Staff picks: Final score, bold predictions from Saints vs. Steelers, via @DillySanders, @RossJacksonNOLA, and @john_siglerr:

More than half of the polled experts are picking the New Orleans Saints to win on the road this week, but our staff here at Saints Wire aren’t so sure about their chances against the Pittsburgh Steelers now that T.J. Watt has returned to the lineup. Here are our final score predictions, and some bold takes on how the game might play out:

5 matchups to watch in Chargers’ preseason finale vs Saints

Highlighting five matchups to watch as the Chargers take on the Saints on Friday night.

The Chargers wrap up their preseason against the Saints.

With the roster taking shape, this will be the last stand for many players trying to make the team.

Here are five key matchups to watch Friday night:

Chargers EDGE Jamal Davis II vs. Saints OT Trevor Penning

Penning was the favorite choice of many a Chargers fan leading up to April’s draft because of his ability to play right tackle, but LA ended up going with Zion Johnson. Penning is now at left tackle in New Orleans, where he’s been the second-highest graded offensive player on the team through two preseason games. Davis, meanwhile, is still fighting for a roster spot in an EDGE room that may or may not carry four dedicated players with Kyle Van Noy’s role unclear. The stakes will be slightly higher as Davis and Chris Rumph will be out to prove their teammate was the right choice over Penning.

Chargers IOL Ryan Hunter vs. Saints DT Malcolm Roach

Both Hunter and Roach will be fighting for their football lives on Friday. For Hunter, he’s out to prove he’s worth a roster spot over the likes of Will Clapp and Brenden Jaimes. All three have had an up-and-down offseason. Roach is attempting to fend off rookies Jordan Jackson and Josh Black to retain his spot on the Saints. The winner of this battle, likely to take place deep into the game, could cement a place on the 53. The loser could be hoping for waivers to be favorable to them.

Chargers CB Ja’Sir Taylor vs. Saints WR Chris Olave

Rookie on rookie here, as Taylor has been the starting slot corner this preseason with Bryce Callahan getting his veteran rest. Olave, meanwhile, has rotated between the outside and in the slot. The Southern California native was another popular choice for the Chargers’ first-round pick and has lived up to the billing thus far. Taylor likely has a roster spot secured, especially with the injuries piling up at cornerback, but holding his own against Olave will undoubtedly help.

Chargers RB Joshua Kelley vs. Saints LB Kaden Elliss

Elliss has been the Saints’ best defender this preseason, per PFF, and is tied for the third-most defensive stops on the team. He’ll be the primary backer tasked with handling Joshua Kelley, who will be looking to bounce back from a poor performance against the Cowboys. A lot of the struggles as a rusher can be chalked up to subpar blocking, but Kelley also dropped his only target. With Isaiah Spiller nursing an ankle injury, Kelley has a shot to firm up his role as RB2 to start the season with a good performance.

Chargers WR Michael Bandy vs. Saints CB DaMarcus Fields

Fields is the closest allegory to Bandy on the Saints’ defense, as the UDFA has played more than 100 snaps this preseason while looking like a potentially solid depth piece at corner. Bandy has been the star of LA’s preseason, hauling in 15 receptions for 142 yards and 2 TDs in two games. Both he and Fields are battling for roster spots that may not even exist – Bandy is LA’s WR6, while Fields is NOLA’s fifth corner. However, a strong performance from either of them against the other could force their respective team to keep them rather than risk waivers.