The situation went from bad to worse for the New Orleans Saints defensive line at the start of free agency. Two players left the team just hours into the legal tampering period with defensive tackles David Onyemata and Shy Tuttle each reaching agreements with division rivals. They’ve ranked first and second in snaps played at defensive tackle in each of the last two years, so this is a big loss for New Orleans.
And the other two defensive tackles who got on the field for the Saints last year are free agents, too. Both Kentavius Street and Malcolm Roach (as well as Albert Huggins, who spent the season on injured reserve) could sign with new teams this week and leave the cupboard totally bare in New Orleans. But NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports the team is making an effort to re-sign at least one of those free agents.
“I know they made an offer to Roach, like a two-year deal, they didn’t do the tender,” Underhill said during a recent episode of the NewOrleans.Football Podcast. As a restricted free agent, the Saints could have kept Roach on the low tender level on a fully-guaranteed $2,627,000, but that’s a lot to pay for someone who is only on the field for 24 snaps per game. “So he’s probably to going to test the market, maybe he comes back.”
Either way, the Saints are going to be rebuilding up front on defense. And they needed to do that regardless of this free agency experience. Last year their run defense ranked eighth-worst in yards allowed before contact and twelfth in yards allowed per carry. They got pushed around too often at the line of scrimmage. Todd Grantham was a good hire to coach the defensive line, but it’s time to restock the talent he’s working with.
