ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has been busy polling dozens of anonymous NFL executives, coaches, and scouts to find the best players at every position group, and on Wednesday he shared their rankings for the league’s best edge rushers. It’s a broad category that lumps traditional defensive ends in with pass-rushing outside linebackers, but the key takeaway for the New Orleans Saints is that they weren’t represented.
That isn’t too surprising given the Saints’ issues pressuring the quarterback last season. Just three teams had fewer sacks than New Orleans (34), who tied with the New York Giants for fourth-worst in the NFL. Their edge rotation just hasn’t been effective enough.
It’s not for lack of trying to improve the group. Cameron Jordan is playing on a contract that carries $28.4 million in guarantees. Carl Granderson has been guaranteed $22.1 million, and Chase Young signed this offseason for a guaranteed $12.5 million. On top of that, the Saints drafted Payton Turner with the 28th overall pick in 2021 and Isaiah Foskey at 40th overall in 2023. They were guaranteed $12.5 million and $6.7 million, respectively. If you’re keeping score, that’s about $82.2 million invested in these five players.
The hope is for Young to heal up from offseason neck surgery in time for the start of the regular season in September; for what it’s worth, he’s progressing well and received positive news at a checkup to start the summer. Last season he tied his career-high with 7.5 sacks and almost doubled his personal-best in quarterback pressures (67, per Pro Football Focus charting). Granderson led the Saints with 8.5 sacks and 57 pressures.
If Foskey can settle in and earn snaps, too (and he should; he didn’t set Notre Dame’s school sacks record by accident) then this group could really get moving. But they haven’t been good enough so far, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that. Turner has been a big disappointment. Jordan is at a point in his career where he can’t deliver as the team’s primary pass rusher, and he shouldn’t be asked to. Granderson has developed well and made big strides year over year. If the plan is for Granderson and Young to lead the charge with Turner and Foskey rotating in on passing downs while Jordan focuses on being a reliable run stopper, it just might work. We’ll see how it shakes out over the summer, and whether any of them earn a spot in the top-10 rankings this time next year.
