The New Orleans Saints are always bringing bodies in and out of camp for tryouts and to fill holes in the rotations. The Saints roster is fairly locked in and looks pretty good, but there’s no problem in adding some veterans that could play crucial rotational roles.
And they have the means to do it. The Saints rank around the middle of the league in terms of available cap space for the season, combine that with the fact that they’re in a great spot to make a playoff push and you should feel good about where the team is at right now.
If they do feel like they do want to make some more moves on the defensive side of the ball, here are the best available names and where they would fit in the depth chart:
Defensive End
- Yannick Ngakoue – DE 2
- Jadeveon Clowney – DE 2
- Melvin Ingram – DE 2
- Carlos Dunlap – DE 3
- Jason Pierre-Paul – DE 4
There are some serious options for players who would come in and immediately get a lot of playing time. Carl Granderson and Isaiah Foskey will be a part of the rotation next season, but Foskey is a rookie and Granderson has never been more than the third man on the rotation.
Ngakoue is still fairly young at 28 years old and has been a pretty consistently productive pass rusher during his NFL career. He has 65 career sacks and is coming off a 9.5 sack season.
Clowney, Dunlap and Ingram could come in and provide another great veteran presence while also carrying a good work load. They’re older but have proven to still have some gas in the tank worth exploring. Pierre-Paul is a little more gone, but could still provide a good presence.
Defensive Tackle
- Matt Ioannidis – DT 3
- Chris Wormley – DT 3
- Chris Peters – DT 4
- Linval Joseph – DT 4
The Saints did a good job of addressing the defensive interior during the offseason. I would take the additions they already made over any of the currently available defenders. There are some that could probably start over Bryan Bresee one day one, but not for long. Most of these would be players that come in very situationally.
Linebacker
- Rashaan Evans – LB 3
- Kwon Alexander – LB 3
- Deion Jones – LB 3
- Jaylon Smith – LB 3
There are a ton of names left in the market that the Saints should take a look at for their linebacker rotation. They lost Kaden Elliss who had a great pass-rushing presence, but would still be behind Demario Davis and Pete Werner in the rotation.
Zack Baun is the only player behind the top-two linebackers currently on the roster that has any real playing time and even then it’s not much. The Saints should absolutely continue to build out the linebacker room, so they don’t run into any huge issues if they need a third guy as much as they needed Elliss last season.
Cornerback
- Marcus Peters – CB 2/3
- Fabian Moreau – CB 4
- Anthony Brown – CB 4
- PJ Williams – CB 4
- Kyle Fuller – CB 4
The Saints cornerback situation is pretty clear at the top. You have Marshon Lattimore as your lockdown corner and then Alonate Taylor and Paulson Adebo will battle it out for the opposite side. Taylor could also play a factor at nickel corner if need be. Bradley Roby has some versatility, but at this point you wouldn’t want to rely on him on the boundary.
After that you have a bunch of young players that are unproven. Marcus Peters could realistically still battle for a starting spot, but you would probably rather have your two young guys earn it. There are a lot of solid options after Peters that would put you at least at better ease than the options currently on the roster if they had to play.
Safety
- John Johnson – S3
- Duron Harmon – S3
- Joshua Kalu – S3
A lot of the options at safety right now are more geared towards their special teams ability. Jordan Howden could be a good third option, but as a rookie you don’t really know. It would make sense for the Saints to add another option that has had a good season like Johnson or Harmon rather than get stuck with Johnathan Abram getting serious snaps in the event of an injury.
