Everyone knows the New Orleans Saints favor size and length at defensive end — head coach Dennis Allen said as much at NFL owners meetings last week, identifying those physical attributes as a big factor in setting the position’s athletic prototype.
We can argue over how flexible the Saints should be when it comes to evaluating prospects, but with the 2023 NFL draft rapidly approaching, it’s worth looking into the factors they’ve shown us they value. To that end, we tracked the height, weight, arm length, and athletic testing results for all 14 defensive ends to have joined the Saints since 2018 and found average results as well as minimum standards that they all met.
Sure, there were some outliers here or there. But for the most part those were players who only signed with the practice squad or who were picked up in free agency after proving they could overcome some athletic limitations on another roster. Here are the minimums the Saints look for in each category at defensive end, with averages in parentheses:
- Height: 6-foot-2 (6-foot-4)
- Weight: 252 pounds (268 pounds)
- Arm length: 32 inches (33.5 inches)
- 40-yard dash: 4.91 seconds (4.78 seconds)
- 10-yard split: 1.76 seconds (1.67 seconds)
- 3-cone drill: 7.63 seconds (7.31 seconds)
- Short shuttle: 4.67 seconds (4.45 seconds)
- Vertical jump: 29 inches (32.1 inches)
- Broad jump: 9-foot-1 (9-foot-8)
Again, we’ve seen the Saints overlook a prospect’s height, short arms, or poor 40-yard dash time or whatever in the past, but they have standards they do try and maintain. The lightest defensive ends they’ve fielded over the last five years, Al-Quadin Muhammad (253 pounds) and Carl Granderson (254 pounds), were both asked to bulk up before they saw heavy minutes. And in both cases those players brought the height and length New Orleans was looking for.
So what can we do with this information? For one thing, we can attempt to whittle down the list of prospects the Saints may be scouting in this year’s draft. The following players project to play defensive end for New Orleans, but fail to qualify for two or more of the athletic minimums we listed above:
- Byron Cox, Tennessee: 6-foot-2, 250 pounds, 32.5-inch arms
- Nick Hampton, Appalachian State: 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, 33.5-inch arms
- Isaiah Land, Florida A&M: 6-foot-3, 236 pounds, 32.5-inch arms
- Nolan Smith, Georgia: 6-foot-2, 238 pounds, 32.5-inch arms
- Jose Ramirez, Eastern Michigan: 6-foot-2, 242 pounds, 32.7-inch arms
There are other defensive end prospects who might struggle to sway the Saints from sticking to their standards, like Iowa State pass rusher Will McDonald IV (who weighs in at 239 pounds) and USC’s inside-out lineman Tuli Tuipulotu (whose 32.2-inch arms are just barely fitting over the minimum). Michigan’s Mike Morris didn’t hit the threshold in either the 40-yard dash (4.95 seconds) or the vertical jump (28.5 inches). That’s going to hurt his grade from where New Orleans is standing.
But quality game tape and convincing interviews can overcome it. It’s happened before. The Saints are always evaluating these benchmarks and tweaking them to make sure they aren’t cutting off good players for arbitrary reasons. They’re more stern than most when it comes to evaluating college talent, but there’s still some wriggle-room for good players to make their case. Stay tuned to see how it shakes out on draft day.
