The New Orleans Saints once again had one of the NFL’s worst defenses last season. The Saints finished 2016 ranked 27th in yards allowed, 31st in points allowed, and 30th in Football Outsiders’ defensive DVOA. They’d finished 31st, 32nd, and 32nd in 2015, and 31st, 28th, and 31st in 2014.
At the root of the issues, yet again, was a distinct lack of pass rush. New Orleans finished with 30 sacks last season, 27th in the NFL. The Saints’ Adjusted Sack Rate, per FO, was just 5.0 percent -- far below average. That figure also represented a steep drop from the 6.0 percent rate the Saints had posted the year before.
Thus, Saints coach Sean Payton stated the obvious this week.
“It’s a must. We’ve got to find a pass-rusher,” Payton said, per the team’s official web site. “Now, whether that comes from free agency or that comes from the draft, we have to be better at affecting the quarterback. Last year if you took hurries, sacks, pressures -- a study of all three things that can happen with a rush -- we were in the bottom third of the league and that has to get better.”
There will be plenty of pass rushers available in free agency this offseason, though some of them like Chandler Jones and possibly Melvin Ingram are expected to be recipients of the franchise tag. The Saints also have the No. 11 overall pick in the draft, by which time No. 1 prospect Myles Garrett will be off the board but other targets like Solomon Thomas, Takkarist McKinley, Tim Williams, Derek Barnett, Taco Charlton and more should be available.
Of the holdovers on the New Orleans roster, only Cameron Jordan displayed a consistent ability to get to the quarterback, so it would not be a surprise to see them address the issue in both free agency and the draft.
