Who are the most important New Orleans Saints players in 2023? Pro Football Focus identified the three best players on the team based on their 2022 performance, but their list doesn’t include franchise quarterback Derek Carr (which makes sense given his dip in production last season, which the Saints are hoping to reverse in a friendlier offense).
Instead, Carr was included as a footnote in a trio of other players who were also considered for recognition, along with cornerback Marshon Lattimore and safety Tyrann Mathieu. Here’s the explanation from PFF’s Trevor Sikkema on why defensive end Cameron Jordan, linebacker Demario Davis, and right tackle Ryan Ramczyk are the Saints’ three best players:
New Orleans struggled last season, but the team’s talent suggests 2023 could be a bounce-back year. Cam Jordan and Demario Davis get the legacy spots here. Davis is tied with Tampa’s Lavonte David for the highest cumulative linebacker grade (90.8) since 2019. Jordan is coming off his lowest-graded season since 2015. With him being 33 years old, he might be headed for a consistent decline, but we’ll wait another season to determine that and move him off this list. However, Mathieu earning an 87.2 coverage grade last season deserves a shoutout, putting him in contention here.
With all due respect to Jordan as a future Hall of Famer and Davis as one of the most underrated players of his generation, it’s not a great sign for the Saints that their high-end talent is all on the wrong side of 30; if you include the honorable mentions, just two of these six players are under 30, and Ramczyk just turned 29 in April (Lattimore is 27). They’re an aging team, particularly on defense.
The Saints have missed on too many draft picks in recent years and seen too much young talent leave in free agency, like defensive end Trey Hendrickson (28), safety Marcus Williams (26), defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (29), safety Vonn Bell (28), and linebacker Kaden Elliss (27), all of whom are spending their athletic prime on other rosters around the league. Until the Saints begin drafting and developing better replacements, they’re going to continue asking a lot of their most experienced players. Hopefully their promising 2022 and 2023 draft classes are steps in the right direction.
