Saints Roster Ranked In Bottom Half By National Analysts

The Saints roster doesn't come in ranked very high by a national outlet, being in the bottom half of the league.

New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo (29) celebrates intercepting a Titans pass in the third quarter at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. / Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com / USA

ESPN Analysts Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder recently ranked every NFL lineup and combined their rankings to come up with a best to worst roster situation. They said that talent, age and production of players were all factors. They ranked the Saints at 20th, right behind the Falcons. The Bucs came in at 22nd and Panthers at 29th. Here's what they said for each category.

Biggest strength: Edge rusher. It doesn't get much deeper than what New Orleans is bringing to the table. Cameron Jordan (NFL-high 116.5 sacks since 2012) is still playing solid ball as his enters his age-35 season, and he won't need to play a full-time role with Carl Granderson (career-high 8.5 sacks in 2023) and newcomer Chase Young (19.3% pass rush win rate last season) in the mix. Even after losing Tanoh Kpassagnon (Achilles) in the offseason, the team has additional highly drafted depth in Isaiah Foskey (2023 second-rounder) and Payton Turner (2021 first-rounder). -- Clay

Biggest weakness: Interior defensive line. An offensive line likely to be without Ryan Ramczyk (knee injury) was a candidate here, but DT remains a major issue. Nathan Shepherd, Bryan Bresee and Khalen Saunders are all back from 2023, though none from that trio has played more than 53% of the snaps. The good news is that the Saints are deep at edge rusher, so coach Dennis Allen has ways of getting creative along the line. -- Clay

X factor for 2024: Offensive tackles Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning. Penning posted a dismal 73% pass block win rate at tackle in 2023, and Fuaga is a rookie -- and rookie offensive linemen, even first-rounders, tend to struggle. The odds are stacked against this pair being able to protect QB Derek Carr, but if they can, the Saints' offense can be solid. -- Walder

Nonstarter to know: Receiver A.T. Perry. Perry gets his first shot at being the third receiver for a team that used 11 personnel on the majority of offensive snaps last season. He caught 12 passes for 246 yards and four touchdowns as a fifth-round rookie out of Wake Forest, including four receptions of 29 yards or more. Can he possibly build on that performance in a larger sample size? -- Schatz

There's obviously some points made here that can be debated. Isaiah Foskey's development and Payton Turner's availability will be key in whether or not the edge group is a strength. The safety or cornerback group, maybe even linebacker, are arguably the best positions of strength for New Orleans.

Pointing out that the interior defensive line is the biggest weakness over the offensive line due to the fact that no player has played more than 53% of the snaps seems a bit odd. It's by design. New Orleans uses a rotation approach for their line, so that's to be expected. However, we do expect a big leap in production from Bryan Bresee, which could lead to more reps.

A.T. Perry should also be another player to take a leap, and while he is a good nonstarter to know for the Saints, Cedrick Wilson Jr. shouldn't be overlooked with his slot duties. There's several players they didn't list in their roster projection that I'd put on there, which includes Kendre Miller, Dallin Holker, Willie Gay Jr. and Johnathan Abram.

For their roster projection, they placed Kool-Aid McKinstry ahead of Alontae Taylor, Bryan Bresee alongside Nathan Shepherd and Jordan Howden with Tyrann Mathieu. Offensively, there's few surprises outside of what we've seen during OTAs and minicamp. Training camp will surely help us learn a lot more about the team and their roster outlook.