The 2023 NFL offseason is in full swing, and with that, training camps edge ever closer to starting. We have seen a new wave of players enter the team both via the draft and free agency, but there is also a large group of returning players from last season as well. This has led to some debates to be had regarding which players will have the largest impact on the roster for the 2023 season.
Each day we will be counting down the 25 most important Saints for the 2023 season. This will be split up into the following categories:
- Recap of their 2022 season
- Projecting their 2023 success
- What is the biggest question mark for them in 2023?
The 21st-ranked player by the Saints Wire staff is a newcomer to the team, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. He’s coming off of four years of being a rotational defensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs with a bigger role looming in New Orleans:
Background
Position: Defensive tackle
Age: 27
Experience: 5th season
2023 cap hit: $1,800,000
2022 Recap
Saunders never logged a start for the Chiefs this season, but played in 16 regular season games and the three playoff games. He’s never played over 40% of snaps during his career, but 2022 was by far his most productive season.
Including playoffs, he had 52 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss and 9 quarterback hits last season. He had a first down sack in the Super Bowl last season.
2023 Outlook
The Saints did draft a first round defensive tackle this year in Bryan Bresee, but Saunders will still likely be the top guy in the room at least to start the 2023 season. He’ll have his biggest task this season, being the top guy on the line and not having the advantage of the focus being on Chris Jones.
Despite playing just 39% of the snaps for the Chiefs last year, his production was comparable or even better than the Saints starters from last season. He doesn’t have to do much to improve upon the abysmal 2022 Saints defensive line last season, so he has that working for him.
Big question: Will the Saints miss David Onyemata as much as people think?
Whenever the Saints get mentioned in the offseason conversation, the departure of David Onyemata gets mentioned every time. However, Onyemata is coming off of year where he contributed to a very weak defensive line.
With Saunders coming in, he’s likely to be in Onyemata’s role, so his job will be making people forget that they lost their 2022 starter to a division rival in the Atlanta Falcons.
In over 200 fewer snaps last season, Saunders had five more tackles and just 1.5 less sacks than Onyemata last season. Saunders is also carrying a cap hit that is over $6 million lower than Onyemata this season.
