Here’s an interesting exercise from ESPN’s Seth Walder, who ranked every team in the NFL based off the strength of their core talents — the five best players on the team. While he acknowledged the dozens of other players on the roster, this ranking is purely focused on the most important pieces for each depth chart.
And ESPN has the Saints ranking at No. 16, right in the middle of the pack. Though they have enough top-end talent to compete with anyone in the league, their best players trend to the older side, and the quality of the roster around them leaves something to be desired. Here are their picks for the top talents:
- QB Derek Carr
- WR Chris Olave
- OT Ryan Ramczyk
- CB Marshon Lattimore
- LB Demario Davis
Walder wrote of the Saints’ five-man band:
With a solid quarterback now under center, the top of the Saints’ roster looks pretty good. ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics suggest Olave is a franchise wide receiver after he tied for seventh in overall score during his rookie season. With better QB play via Carr, Olave’s box score stats will come. This ranking might oversell New Orleans, though — the roster drops off quite a bit from the core.
But are those the five best players on the team? Who else should be considered?
If you’re just focused on players who were on the field most often, safety Tyrann Mathieu (99.7% of snaps last season), left tackle James Hurst (92.7%), and center Erik McCoy (76%) deserve a mention, though Mathieu and Hurst were too inconsistent throughout the season to be ranked top-five on the team moving forward.
But looking to splash plays would highlight defensive end Cameron Jordan (whose 8.5 sacks led the team) or cornerback Alontae Taylor (with a team-leading 11 passes defensed), as well as tight end Juwan Johnson (who broke out with 7 touchdown receptions, most on the team) and do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill. Hill had nearly as many first down conversions as a runner (34) as Alvin Kamara (40) on less than half the rushing attempts.
In an ideal world, Kamara would slot into that top-five. His usage in the offense and a couple of injuries have lowered his standing, though, and it’s unclear how heavy a workload he’ll have in 2023 between a looming suspension and additions the team has made at running back like Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller.
It’s too soon to put Taylor and Johnson on that upper shelf, too — we need to see more from them and prove that 2022 wasn’t a flash in the pan. Hill’s limited snaps are also tough to weigh against every-down players. If there’s someone not listed in ESPN’s top five who should make the cut, it’s probably Jordan, but he’s also getting up there in years and isn’t the same dominant pass rusher he once was. He collected 5 of those 8.5 sacks in just two games.
So that top-five from ESPN doesn’t look too bad. Olave is a young, ascending talent. Davis and Carr should be veteran cornerstones. Lattimore and Ramczyk are also established star talents. But will anyone displace them this time next year? We’ll just have to wait and see.
