The New Orleans Saints opened training cap by signing several veteran players to reinforce the depth chart, including a pair of veteran offensive guards in Trai Turner and Max Garcia (as well as a reunion with their former Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham). Those were all moves that general manager Mickey Loomis characterized as guys with proven performance who can compete for roster spots during his first press conference.
But they aren’t finished just yet. The Saints also brought in a half-dozen defensive linemen for a group tryout before camp, and Loomis acknowledged that there are other roster spots they would like to add another proven player or two. But are there any areas of need on his mind?
“Nothing glaring,” Loomis said, choosing his words carefully. “There’s probably a couple of spots, I don’t want to identify them. There’s a couple where I wouldn’t mind having another player that has played in the NFL. But nothing glaring that I’m losing sleep over.”
So which positions could Loomis be alluding to? Let’s look at the depth chart and areas where there are more younger, inexperienced players than established veterans.
Linebacker jumps off the page. Demario Davis is the only player in the group with more than 30 career starts; Pete Werner has only played 27 games through two years (out of 34 potential starts) while Zack Baun (8 starts in 45 games), Andrew Dowell (no starts in 34 games), Ty Summers (1 start in 52 games), and Ryan Connelly (1 start in 31 games) are all better known for their efforts on special teams than quantity of reps on defense. That’s also the case for second-year pro Nephi Sewell, while rookies Anfernee Orji and Nick Anderson are relative unknowns, as is D’Marco Jackson as he returns from a season-ending injury.
There are other cases to be made, like at defensive end where Cameron Jordan is the sole established presence, ahead of Tanoh Kpassagnon (34 starts in 84 games) and Carl Granderson (7 starts in 54 games). Defensive tackle could also use another piece — Nathan Shepherd and Khalen Saunders are a solid pair of veterans, but they’ve started a combined 17 of their 111 career regular season games. The Saints are putting a lot of pressure on young draft picks like Bryan Bresee, Isaiah Foskey, and Payton Turner to fill out the depth chart along the defensive line, which leads to uncertainty.
It would be nice to have someone else with a strong NFL resume in either group, but as Loomis said, it’s not worth losing sleep over with so many young, developing players in the pipeline. Don’t be shocked if more moves are on the way, but maybe don’t look out for anything earth-shaking, either.
