Tag: Report Cards

2024 Saints free agent report cards: Was Lucas Patrick a good signing?

Taking a look back at the 2024 offseason, was Lucas Patrick a good signing for the Saints? He played some important snaps at left guard:

The NFL offseason grows ever closer by the day, and as the New Orleans Saints look towards the future under a new head coach, there is also some time to look in retrospect at their 2024 offseason. While they only had a couple of signings and departures, it is worth taking a look at how each of those panned out during the season.

One of their more notable 2024 signings was left guard Lucas Patrick, who ended up being the starter for the large majority of the time he was available and was an intriguing piece throughout the course of the year. Let’s take a look at his contract, 2024 season, and give the signing a grade:

Free agent contract

Lucas Patrick signed one of the more simple contracts when it comes to the Saints, with a one-year deal worth $1,210,000 with $324,000 guaranteed. Among the left guards in the 2024 season, this was the 38th largest contract of 94, so near starting value as he almost made the top 32.

There are no additional void years or additions as it was a smaller scale contract, so the Saints have full flexibility to let him walk or bring him back if they wish to do so.

Snap counts

Patrick has had a very split snap count in his career, as early on he did not get many at all, but then he started getting significantly more in recent years. Here are his offensive snap totals for each season, only including games he played in:

  • 2017: 29% (227)
  • 2018: 29% (278)
  • 2019: 15% (137)
  • 2020: 90% (939)
  • 2021: 82% (911)
  • 2022: 65% (269)
  • 2023: 88% (958)
  • 2024: 79% (563)

2024 season review

2024 was a solid season for Patrick, not his best but absolutely one of his best, and it went heavily under the radar due to the time he missed with injury. In his 11 games played (10 started), he allowed 0 sacks, 10 pressures, and had 3 penalties, good for a 98.4% pass blocking rate. This type of production is exceptional, especially when dealing with injuries later in the season that made things difficult on him. 

Report card grade

Overall this was a solid signing for the Saints, given the price and production both being solid. The six games missed makes it tough to go higher than where we have him graded, however it was definitely a season worth following up with another one-year deal. Given he was expected to be replacement-level or a low-end starter, he had an exceptional season statistically and worked well with the offensive line in place.

Signing Grade: B-

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2024 Saints free agent report cards: Was letting Zack Baun go a big loss?

Taking a look back at the 2024 offseason, was letting linebacker Zack Baun go a big loss? His rapid and sustained success with the Eagles suggests so:

The NFL offseason and free agency are almost upon us, and with that, we wait in anticipation for the New Orleans Saints to make a head coaching hire to kick things off. After a brutal 5-12 campaign in 2024, there are many ways to distribute the blame amongst the organization. One of the notable issues for the Saints the past few seasons has been letting players walk who they mismanaged, and then they turned out to be good shortly after.

One such player is linebacker Zack Baun, who the Saints let walk in the 2024 offseason, as he would move on to the now Super Bowl bound Philadelphia Eagles. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the decision to let him walk and his production to this point in his career.

Free agent contract

Zack Baun received a one-year deal with the Eagles in the 2024 offseason, with a total value of $3.5 million and a guaranteed salary worth $1.125 million. He also earned an additional $1 million in incentives for his level of play, and likely for the Super Bowl berth. 

With this being only a one-year deal, the Eagles will have a tough decision to make on whether or not they want to pay him his new value for the long term, or let him walk to a new team.

Snap counts

The snap counts for Baun tell the story quite well, and his utilization has been quite low until he joined Philadelphia. Here is his defensive snap rates for each season, only including games he played:

  • 2020: 8% (82)
  • 2021: 17% (194)
  • 2022: 10% (83)
  • 2023: 27% (301)
  • 2024: 95% (939)

2024 season review

2024 was not only a breakout year for Baun, it was a year where he finally got a full opportunity to get substantial playing time, and he made the most of it. He wrapped up the regular season with a whopping 151 total tackles (93 solo, 58 assisted), 11 tackles for loss, 5 forced fumbles with one recovery, 4 pass deflections, 3.5 sacks, and an interception. 

This type of season was not only unprecedented but enormously impressive, with the Eagles finding a way to utilize him correctly, he was able to put up defensive player of the year type numbers.

Report card grade

When it comes to grading a team for letting players walk, it typically is hard to gauge the factor of whether or not the player in question would have performed at a similar level with that team and not their new team. Who knows if Zack Baun would have ever had a breakout season with the Saints, especially at that level.

Regardless, he had an outstanding season, and when it comes down to it, letting a DPOY candidate walk is going to reflect extremely poorly on your team. This is an F in pretty much every sense of how the grading scale could be applied, as the Saints chose to never utilize him this often, and now it will bite them for years to come.

Departure Grade: F-

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2024 Saints free agent report cards: Was Chase Young a good signing?

Taking a look back at the 2024 offseason, was defensive end Chase Young a good free agent signing for the Saints?

The New Orleans Saints have desperately needed an influx of talent along the defensive line for a few seasons now, and despite their attempts to fix that through the draft vis-à-vis the selections of Payton Turner and Isaiah Foskey, it has not panned out how they expected.

In the 2024 offseason, they tried at a different method of adding talent, signing defensive end Chase Young to a one-year deal. With him coming off a neck injury and requiring surgery to get back to where he needed to be, the Saints took the shot on him with a short contract.

With the 2025 offseason nearly upon us, we will first take the opportunity to look back at the 2024 signings and grade them based on their first season with the black and gold. So without further ado, we begin with arguably their biggest signing of the offseason.

Free agent contract

Young was signed by the Saints to a 1-year, $13 million deal last offseason, with $12.55 million being guaranteed. This contract was the 26th largest contract at his position among the 244 signed defensive ends/edges in 2024. His cap hit did get split partially into 2025 however, with his 2024 cap number at $3,912,000 and his 2025 cap number at $9,088,000. 

The 2025 number was via a prorated signing bonus, so if Young were to leave this offseason, it would count towards the dead cap figure. If he were to return on a new contract it would be added onto that new deal, and would be able to be spread out further over the life of that instead.

Snap counts

When it comes to career snap counts for Chase Young, he has been utilized pretty heavily. Here is his defensive snap rate for each season of his career, only counting games he played in:

  • 2020: 78% (770)
  • 2021: 80% (477)
  • 2022: 65% (115)
  • 2023: WAS 84% (407), SF 58% (328)
  • 2024: 63% (742)

As you can see, he has always been a pretty heavily played pass rusher when on the field, but years like 2022 stand out where he missed all but three games, and 2021 where he played in nine.

2024 season review

2024 was a relatively solid season for Young, and while it was not as strong as his rookie season in 2020, he was making a positive impact all season long. This was the first season of his career where he has played every game, and in that span had 5.5 sacks, 31 total tackles (21 solo, 10 assisted), 8 tackles for loss, 21 QB hits, 66 pressures, 3 pass deflections and a forced fumble. 

Overall he performed better in the second half of the season as he grew more accustomed to the system. While the Saints are looking for a new head coach entering 2025, if he were to return it would likely benefit him to get a jump start and have a full offseason process.

Report card grade

Grading this signing is a little difficult, as on one hand Young was enormously impactful in many key statistics, but the sack number being only 5.5 is slightly underwhelming. This defense needs someone who can get the quarterback on the ground more than anything at the moment, and despite Young being exceptional at getting into the pocket, he had a tough time finishing the rep fast enough to get the quarterback down.

Regardless, for a one-year rental and only 13 million dollars spent, this was a strong season for Young. If he could be brought back for that range on multiple years it would be a positive, and that’s all you could ask for.

Signing Grade: B+

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Saints free agent report cards: Grading value signings from 2022

New Orleans Saints free agent report cards: Daniel Sorensen and Kentavius Street were among 2022’s value signings, but how much did they help the team?

We’ve already reviewed the larger moves of last year’s New Orleans Saints free agent class — handing out report cards for veteran players like quarterback Andy Dalton, slot receiver Jarvis Landry, and safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye. But they weren’t the only players the Saints added last offseason. They made a series of value signings at or near the veteran’s minimum, and some of those players really helped the team out in some clutch moments.

Here’s a quick look at the free agent report cards for safeties Daniel Sorensen and Justin Evans, tight end J.P. Holtz, and defensive lineman Kentavius Street: