The New Orleans Saints retooled their defensive line last season, replacing most of the players that were roster in 2022. They lost Shy Tuttle and David Onyemata to big contracts within the NFC South with other players leaving the rotation like Kentavius Street, but were they able to replace them with some other nice players on the inside.
One of the players they brought in was former Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Khalen Saunders. Saunders became an immediate fan favorite due to his athletic ceiling made apparent by his viral front-flip ability.
It’s time for the next free agency report card as we keep this series going and evaluate his first season in black and gold, just as we did with fellow defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd. Here’s Saunders’ 2023 report card:
Free agent contract
Saunders signed a three-year deal last season valued at $12.3 million, with $6.6 million guaranteed — that’s coming from his $3.5 million signing bonus as well as the first year of his base salary. It puts his 2024 salary cap hit at about $3.1 million, which ranks 31st for defensive tackles.
The Saints could move on from him if they feel like they need to, with a $2.8 million dead cap hit, but he’ll likely stick around as he is a solid value player for his price point.
Snap counts
Saunders was a regular part of the rotation up the middle, despite starting all 17 games he did only play in half Saints’ defensive snaps (523), which was his highest career snap count. He split time between run defense and pass rushing snaps with only 31 more of his snaps in run defense than pass rush defense. The Saints did start to use him in the red zone on offense has a blocker which led to him playing 16 offensive snaps as well.
Season stats
Saunders’ step up in playing time led to him having a career high 57 tackles. Unfortunately for the Saints, though, he did have a step down in some key stats like tackles for a loss and quarterback hits. He also was unable to log any sacks despite having 3.5 the year before.
The team was likely hoping for him to have a bigger impact in pass rush, as they desperately needed more production across their defensive line.
Season recap, future outlook
It was a solid season for Saunders overall, but maybe a different one than the team was expecting. His 57 tackles were the most among interior defensive lineman on the team. But he was behind most of his peers in tackles for a loss, quarterback hits and sacks.
He will likely stick around for another season as it would be a gamble to find another good player at the same price point, especially with Saunders entering just his age 28 season.
His emergence in a red zone role was an interesting wrinkle in his career. It wasn’t a huge role but it was clearly something the team found that they liked. With a new offensive staff, though, it’s not easy to project if that will happen more next season. It was at least interesting while it was going on.
Report card grade
It was a totally okay season for Saunders. He provided good value for his price point. However, the Saints will probably want to go back to the drawing board with the position in the draft for another defender. That doesn’t mean he won’t be back, but he also didn’t provide everything they needed at the position.
It wasn’t a flashy season for Saunders, outside of the offensive coaching drawing up a play for him to score a touchdown (which unfortunately didn’t work out), but it was a solid one. Nathan Shepherd worked out as the pass rush threat while Khalen Saunders was a serviceable run defender.
Grade: C+
