The New Orleans Saints weren’t able to overcome the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field a week after failing to seal the deal at NRG Stadium with the Houston Texans, but preseason games aren’t about wins and losses. The objective is to evaluate players and coaches in different roles, like trying new guys out on special teams and giving the play sheet to quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry. You’re more focused on the process than the results.
With that in mind, let’s check out the player grades from Pro Football Focus. Their team charts and grades every play from every player in every game to give us an idea of who is performing their best and who isn’t getting the most out of their reps. It’s not a perfect system, but it is a useful tool at a glance. Here are the highest and lowest grades from the Saints preseason so far, deferring to players who have suited up for both exhibition games:
Top 5 offense
- C Nick Martin: 81.1
- LT Trevor Penning: 80.0
- FB Adam Prentice: 78.0
- C Josh Andrews: 73.7
- RB Tony Jones Jr.: 73.2
Honorable mentions go to backup left guard Derek Schweiger (75.4) and quarterback Andy Dalton (74.1), who have each only played in one of the two exhibition games so far. Penning deserves a lot of credit here – he’s played the second-most snaps on the team through two preseason games (102), with only backup passer Ian Book (126) ahead of him. Achieving such a high grade on a larger sample size than his peers is noteworthy. The strides he made in pass protection over his first outing, allowing just two pressures to Green Bay after yielding four of them in Houston a week earlier, speak for themselves. He’s made rapid improvement. Jones has only forced one missed tackle as a runner but his success as a receiver, catching all 4 of his targets to pick up 33 yards, raises his overall grade.
Top 5 defense
- LB Kaden Elliss: 81.9
- S Justin Evans: 81.3
- LB Eric Wilson: 80.2
- DL Kentavius Street: 74.5
- DL Tanoh Kpassagnon: 68.7
Shoutout to linebacker Jon Bostic (77.1), cornerback Paulson Adebo (76.9), and defensive ends Scott Patchan (73.2) and Niko Lalos (69.9) for grading out so well in just one game each. Elliss and Wilson in particular have each played heavy snaps counts, ranking fourth and fifth on the team through two weeks, with Evans and Kpassagnon also each seeing 50-plus reps in the preseason games. You want to see guys playing often and playing well. Elliss is tied for the third-most defensive stops on the team, while Kpassagnon is one of just four players to generate multiple pressures. Street receives high marks for his run defense.
Bottom 5 offense
- RG Khalique Washington: 34.6
- TE Juwan Johnson: 42.2
- RB Abram Smith: 51.8
- WR Tre’Quan Smith: 53.7
- WR Kirk Merritt: 53.8
Two of the bottom-five players here are rookies (Washington and Smith), which doesn’t bode well for their chances of making the cut. Smith does grade out well for his snaps in pass protection and route-running, but his unspectacular 3.4 yards per carry (55 yards gained on 16 attempts) and a Week 1 fumble hurt. Washington is a weird case, and a good example of the limitations of PFF’s system – his 28.0 pass-blocking grade is the lowest on the team, but he hasn’t been charged with allowing any pressures on 17 snaps in pass protection. So they see him getting beaten but it isn’t reflected elsewhere on the stats sheet.
As for veterans like Johnson, Smith, and Merritt: they’ve each received pedestrian receiving grades that probably says more about subpar quarterback play than it does themselves, though Smith is one of three few players to be dinged with a dropped reception. Other low-ranked players on offense who only got into one game: tight end Lucas Krull (41.1), tight end Taysom Hill (44.8), swing tackle Derrick Kelly (52.4), and left tackle James Hurst (52.9), who only played 10 snaps.
Bottom 5 defense
- DL Josh Black: 35.8
- DL Jordan Jackson: 39.3
- DL Albert Huggins: 39.4
- CB Brian Allen: 45.4
- CB Bradley Roby: 46.2
It’s odd to see Roby here given how well he’s performed in practice, but he’s only seen 21 snaps in two games and goes to show how a small sample size of negative plays can hurt. It’s concerning to see so many defensive linemen here, which illustrates just how critically the Saints will be leaning on the top of their depth chart. Allen has allowed 4 completions into his coverage, tied for the team lead, while yielding 77 yards and a touchdown reception – though he does have an interception to his credit. Other defenders graded poorly with just one game appearance are linebacker Zack Baun (39.3) and cornerback Jordan Brown (43.6), who was released from injured reserve recently after reaching an injury settlement with the team.
Quarterback
- Andy Dalton: 79.0
- Ian Book: 71.4
Dalton only dropped back to pass 6 times before the Saints rested him, but he completed all 5 of his throws for 51 yards and a score (opting to scramble on his other dropback). Book hasn’t been very good, but PFF does rightfully cut him some slack for the struggles of his surrounding cast. He’s dropped back 64 times, completing 31 of his 50 passes while dealing with 3 drops. He’s been pressured on 22 attempts and sacked 7 times, with the pass rush forcing him to scramble another 7 times. He probably would look better with more minutes played alongside the Saints’ starters, but we’ve also got to acknowledge how low his floor is here before we consider where his ceiling may or may not be.
Special teams
- TE J.P. Holtz: 85.5
- RB Tony Jones Jr.: 79.5
- WR Kawaan Baker: 73.7
- LS Zach Wood: 72.2
- FB Adam Prentice: 71.4
Holtz, a tight end/fullback, has earned the highest special teams grade on the team (85.5), and he’s also the only player to get on the field for every Saints punt besides the long snapper and punter themselves. Jones is firmly in the mix for a job on special teams with the punt and kick return units. So is Baker, who is also playing often on the kickoff coverage squad. Linebacker Nephi Sewell has received a middling-at-best 56.7 grade but he leads the team in snaps played in the kicking game, getting on the field with five of the six units (everything but the field goal blocking squad).
