Week 2 is behind us and we’re already on to Week 3’s matchup for the New Orleans Saints, who will travel to face the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte on Sunday. With practices just beginning to ramp up ahead of their kickoff, it’s a good time to update our Saints player power rankings, as voted on my our staff each week.
This week’s biggest riser is, again, linebacker Pete Werner – who climbed 7 more spots after leaping 6 places higher last week, this time making the top-5. We also saw tight end Juwan Johnson, defensive end Marcus Davenport, safety Marcus Maye, left guard Andrus Peat, and punter Blake Gillikin each climb 3 spots.
As for the biggest fallers: cornerback Paulson Adebo and running back Alvin Kamara each fell nine spots, seeing as they didn’t play in Week 2 due to injuries, but defensive end Cameron Jordan tumbled furthest of the players who did get on the field (8 spots). Right tackle Ryan Ramczyk also took a step back, losing 4 places, after an uncharacteristically poor day in pass protection. Quarterback Jameis Winston fell 3 spots, too, while players like running back Mark Ingram II, plus safeties Justin Evans and J.T. Gray fell out of the top-25 entirely.
That did open the door for three new arrivals, though: left tackle James Hurst, right guard Cesar Ruiz, and safety P.J. Williams each returned to the top-25 after not making it in Week 2. Williams did give up a late touchdown pass to the Buccaneers, but wide receiver Breshad Perriman got away with a push off on the catch so we aren’t holding it against him too badly.
So with all that said: here is the Week 3 Saints player power rankings.
25. RG Cesar Ruiz (Last week: N/A)
24. CB Paulson Adebo (Last week: 15)
23. S P.J. Williams (Last week: N/A)
22. LB Kaden Elliss (Last week: 23)
21. LT James Hurst (Last week: N/A
20. TE Taysom Hill (Last week: 20)
19. LG Andrus Peat (Last week: 22)
18. TE Juwan Johnson (Last week: 21)
17. RB Alvin Kamara (Last week: 8)
16. P Blake Gillikin (Last week: 19)
15. DT David Onyemata (Last week: 17)
14. DE Cameron Jordan (Last week: 6)
13. DE Marcus Davenport (Last week: 16)
12. WR Chris Olave (Last week: 14)
11. K Wil Lutz (Last week: 13)
10. QB Jameis Winston (Last week: 7)
9. SR Jarvis Landry (Last week: 10)
8. S Marcus Maye (Last week: 11)
7. S Tyrann Mathieu (Last week: 9)
6. RT Ryan Ramczyk (Last week: 2)
5. LB Pete Werner (Last week: 12)
4. CB Marshon Lattimore (Last week: 3)
3. WR Michael Thomas (Last week: 5)
2. C Erik McCoy (Last week: 4)
1. LB Demario Davis (Last week: 1)
