The 2023 NFL Scouting Combine is here, and so much attention is being paid to the upcoming rookie class that it’s easy to overlook the players that came before them. And the New Orleans Saints’ list of second-year pros has a lot to offer. We’re making an effort to look past the obvious big names like first-round picks Chris Olave and Trevor Penning, for whom expectations are already high, and instead highlighting some guys who either got a raw deal with injuries or who are better positioned to make plays now than they were last summer.
With that in mind, here are some of the second-year Saints we’re eager to see on the practice field:
Smoke Monday
Monday endeared himself quickly to Saints fans as a much-lauded find in undrafted free agency, but a training camp injury cut his year short. Now he’s looking to make an impact. He played a ton of snaps at Auburn (2,118 over four years, per Pro Football Focus charting) while lining up all over the place — mainly at free safety but also in the box, and often covering the slot while sometimes moving out wide. He moves well, tackles hard, and brings a much-needed edge to the secondary. Let’s hope his health holds up.
D'Marco Jackson
Jackson was doing well until a training camp knee injury cut him down, and he spent the entire season on the injured reserve list recovering from it. He would’ve had a hard time getting on the field behind Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Kaden Elliss, and Zack Baun, but the former fifth-round pick should compete for a role right away on special teams. He played 600-plus snaps in the kicking game at Appalachian State. And his nose for the football should help him stand out this summer — he didn’t win recognition as the 2021 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year for nothing.
Rashid Shaheed
It feels like cheating to list Shaheed here given how exciting he was in the second half of the season, but he did finish the year with “only” 28 receptions for 488 receiving yards. There’s a ton of untapped potential here and the growth we saw him make week over week was impressive. He initial got into games as a gadget player and developed into a surehanded possession receiver: his 82.4% catch rate was the best on the team, and only Chris Olave (48) and Juwan Johnson (25) converted more first downs than he did.
Alontae Taylor
Again, it feels like a cheat to put a second-round pick here, but Taylor was limited by an injury and the players ahead of him last season — but now that he has some quality tape behind him, he should climb the depth chart rapidly. He has a better chance of unseating Paulson Adebo and Bradley Roby this summer than he did as a rookie (and Roby is a good candidate to move to the slot full-time). Adebo broke up more passes (11) than anyone on the team. If he can clean up his tackling and remain competitive at the catch point, he should start right away in 2023.
