The New Orleans Saints entered free agency after once again pushing all their chips to the center of the table. After restructuring multiple contracts, New Orleans made their way under the salary cap and continue to try and make a deep playoff run with Derek Carr leading the charge. While they didn’t get too much better, they didn’t get much worse, and the Saints mediocre free agency is reflected in their PFF grade.
In a recent article, PFF’s Brad Spielberger assigned a grade for every single team in free agency, and the Saints came away with a B. It’s important to note that this article came out prior to the Chase Young contract, so that transaction is not a part of Spielberger’s analysis.
PFF Gives Saints ‘B’ Free Agency Grade
The Article
Aside from Chase Young, the Saints biggest signing was linebacker Willie Gay. A former second-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, Gay adds some much-needed depth to the linebacker room, and Spielberger acknowledges that in his breakdown.
With a lot of mid-tier and/or specific role linebackers doing well so far through the first day and a half of free agency, this is a good value for Gay. New Orleans gets a solid third linebacker to pair with Demario Davis and Pete Werner.
Aside from Gay and Young, just about every other Saints free agency signing was a depth player who won’t impact the grade too dramatically. For instance, Nathan Peterman is not a good quarterback, but New Orleans signed him for basically nothing, so what’s the harm in having him compete for the backup spot?
This is pure speculation, but the Chase Young signing probably wouldn’t change the Saints free agency grade too dramatically. New Orleans needed a reliable edge defender, and Young has a remarkably high ceiling. However, he’s incredibly inconsistent and has clear effort concerns. While they only gave him a one-year deal, they might regret guaranteeing all $13 million of his contract.
Why Did the Saints Receive This Free Agency Grade?
When Spielberger handed out the Saints free agency grade, he clearly took their lack of resources into account. Other teams like the Washington Commanders have added more talent in the past week, but they had the financial capacity to do so. Considering what the Saints were working with, a ‘B’ feels fair.
The biggest factors holding the Saints back from a higher free agency grade is that they have not added a tackle or replaced Michael Thomas. Derek Carr does not handle pressure well, and this team needs to find an adequate starter if they want to win the NFC South. Meanwhile, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are a fine receiving duo, but they could use a third option.
The good news is that the team still has plenty of time to address these needs. Trent Brown is probably the best tackle left on the market, or the Saints could bring back old friend Andrus Peat as a stopgap and draft a player like JC Latham with their first-round pick. As far as wide receivers go, someone like Hunter Renfrow or Tyler Boyd could be a perfect fit as a player who can get open quickly as move the chains.
More must-reads: