Remodeling the defensive line was a major offseason priority for the New Orleans Saints this spring, and Nathan Shepherd is going to be a big part of their changes up front. He signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Saints carrying $10.18 million in guarantees — more than his Super Bowl champion teammate Khalen Saunders.
Shepherd’s likely to be their David Onyemata replacement in the middle of the defense as a tall, disruptive interior pass rusher. Let’s get to know him a little better now that he’s wearing black and gold in our ongoing Meet the Team series:
Shepherd hails from Ajax, Ontario in Canada and started his college career at Simon Fraser University before transferring to Fort Hays State in Kansas, which put him on the NFL’s radar. He became the school’s first player to receive a Senior Bowl invite and weighed in at just under 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds, though an injury in practice kept him out of the all-star game itself. He was ultimately picked by the New York Jets at No. 72 overall in the 2018 draft.
Shepherd was a mainstay for the Jets defensive line, averaging 32.5 snaps per game across 56 appearances (he missed 6 games in 2019 serving a suspension for violating the league’s PED policy). He didn’t miss a game the last two years while posting career-high snaps totals of 495 and 417, playing a critical role in the Jets’ interior rotation.
Much like Onyemata before him, Shepherd is a tall, long athlete with experience playing from different alignments. He can occupy multiple blockers himself or get after the quarterback and create pressures on his own. He was an important piece for the Jets and he’ll be a big part of the Saints’ success up front defensively, too.
So what are realistic expectations for Shepherd in 2023? It shouldn’t shock anyone if he leads the Saints’ defensive tackles in snaps played this year, though it’s unlikely he approaches the average Onyemata posted last year (40 snaps per game). He’s a more all-around asset than Saunders, who is primarily a run-stopping nose tackle, and he doesn’t share the injury history of rookie first-round pick Bryan Bresee. Shepherd should start almost every game at defensive tackle and do a lot of heavy lifting.
