The New Orleans Saints have finally come to the end ofa 15-year run of uncommon stability, thanks to the durability of longtimequarterback Drew Brees — and the patience of team ownership, as the head coachand general manager have also remained the same since 2006. The team only wonone Super Bowl title during that time, but numerous division titles and longruns made the Saints an NFC power. The team has some turnover heading into2021, as Brees’ retirement opens the door for either Jameis Winston or TaysomHill to lead the offense. Former assistant head coach Dan Campbell now has thehead job in Detroit, and his defensive coordinator will be Aaron Glenn, who hadcoached the Saints’ secondary.
What will these changes bring to the New Orleansdefense? We’ll take a look and consider some of the implications for NFL betting enthusiasts.
NFL News: New Orleans Saints Defense In-Depth Betting Analysis
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen returns for hisseventh season with the Saints. However, due to the fact that the Saints had toslash their team salary by about $100 million to make it under the newlyreduced cap (thanks to league revenue reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic).That means that leading pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, two defensive tackles (SheldonRankins and Malcom Brown), one of the top cover corners in the league (JanorisJenkins) and a key linebacker (Kwon Alexander) are no longer on the roster. Atsafety, both Marcus Williams and Malcolm Jenkins return — making it the onlydefensive position that did not lose players. C.J. Gardner-Johnson, a terrificnickel back, also returns.
Defensive end Cameron Jordan posted 7 ½ sacks in 2020,ending a streak of three seasons with at least a dozen. The problem is that theSaints did not have a productive end on the other side, allowing opposingoffensive lines to key on Jordan. The Saints added Tanoh Kpassagnon via freeagency and drafted Payton Turner in the first round to fill that position, andMarcus Davenport and Carl Granderson will get their chances as well to produce.
Demario Davis returns at linebacker; he has had 100 ormore tackles in four consecutive seasons, making him one of the top linebackersoff the ball in the league. The other starters at linebacker will likely beZack Baun, who came in the third round in 2020 and had three games as a starterin his rookie season, and Pete Werner, who came in the second round this year.
The largest question that remains for New Orleans isat the corner opposite Marshon Lattimore. Patrick Robinson is still around, buthe turns 34 this fall and is more of a slot coverage player than a straightcorner. He also has had to sit for several games in each of the last threeseasons due to injury. He is more of a versatile contributor than a steadystarting cornerback. P.J. Williams has been serviceable, but receivers havebeen able to burn him on the outside. Those are the three veteran cornerbackson the Saints roster, so adding some depth in this area has to be a priority.The Saints drafted Paulson Adebo out of Stanford in the third round, and he hasenough athleticism to earn a hard look at starting across from Lattimore in theformation as well.
During their 15-year run, the Saints had more of areputation of running a white-hot offense than offering a shutdown defense.However, their lone Super Bowl title during this run came during a season whentheir defense was even better than their accomplished offense. As 2021 goesforward, while the offense has to figure out which quarterback to start — andthe defense has to figure out which young players will become the anchors forthe Saints’ next run.
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