Chase Young will be taking someone’s spot in the rotation after the New Orleans Saints signed him to a one-year, $13 million contract on Monday (with every dollar guaranteed once his pen touched paper). The Saints are bringing back all of their major contributors from 2023 at defensive end, but the group performed so poorly that it makes sense for Young to elbow someone aside.
It just might be Payton Turner drawing the short straw. The 2021 first-round pick hasn’t lived up to expectations, and it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the Saints will not pick up his fifth-year option for 2025 before May’s deadline. Between injuries and coach’s decisions based on his too-slow progress, Turner has only played 15 games through his first three years, without a single start.
Cameron Jordan and Carl Granderson are locked in, and Tanoh Kpassagnon also played major snaps last year (23.8 per game). Backups Isaiah Foskey and Kyle Phillips got a few looks here and there. If Young can fill in for Jordan on third downs and obvious passing situations, limiting the old pro’s snap counts, there may not be many more reps to go around. Phillips is an unrestricted free agent who has not been retained. Foskey’s development has been slow, like Turner’s, but he’s only entering his second year in the NFL.
So it’ll probably be Turner or Kpassagnon being squeezed out. They share surprisingly similar skill sets as defensive linemen who can set the edge or slide inside, and the financials are similar, too. Turner’s 2024 salary cap hit is set at just over $3.9 million. Trading or releasing him after June 1 (during or after training camp, too) would save the Saints $2.3 million. Kpassagnon’s cap hit is $3.3 million and moving him this summer would save the team $2.5 million against the cap.
And of those two, Kpassagnon has been the better player for the Saints. He’s been healthy and productive and played more games. That might make him a more appealing asset to other teams. At the same time, Kpassagnon will turn 30 in June, and the aging Saints defense has been a point of contention among fans. It’s possible Turner plays well enough in practices over the summer that it’s a real question of who makes the cut, and another team could swoop in to make New Orleans a trade offer they can’t refuse. It would be a good problem to have.
It’s just a shame Turner hasn’t met expectations to this point in his career. Some of it is his own fault with up-and-down performances when he’s been available. Some of it is on the coaching staff for preferring to run with older teammates in some games. But so much of the problem isn’t anyone’s fault. Injuries happen in the NFL, and Turner has been hit harder than most. We’ll see if he can bounce back with the stakes going higher in 2024.
