The New Orleans Saints defensive line needs a facelift. Their linebackers were more productive on blitzes than their starting defensive ends for much of the season, and the big men inside gave up too much ground in run defense as the 2022 season wore on. So the fact that multiple linemen are headed for free agency is a good opportunity to reboot the unit.
But ESPN’s Todd McShay has a worrisome suggestion. One of the players who could leave this offseason is defensive end Marcus Davenport, who has all the ability in the world but struggled to stay on the field through five years with the Saints due to injuries and inconsistent play. He has the Saints picking a prospect with many of the same qualities that filled Davenport’s scouting report coming out of college: Georgia Tech defensive end Keion White.
Here’s what McShay wrote of the fit in his recent mock draft:
“The Saints got back into Round 1 with the Sean Payton trade and have a chance to land a replacement for Marcus Davenport if the veteran pass-rusher departs in free agency — which seems likely given the Saints’ salary-cap situation. White is coming off a 7.5-sack season and just had a good week in Mobile, Alabama, at the Senior Bowl. The pass rush was a strength in New Orleans last season (48 sacks, tied for fifth), but Cameron Jordan is turning 34, and defensive tackle David Onyemata is scheduled to join Davenport in free agency.”
He’s right to point out the position as an area of need. Jordan and Carl Granderson are your projected starters out on the edge in 2023 and there’s no depth behind them; Payton Turner hasn’t shown anything through two injury-plagued years to start his own career. But White shares just as many of Davenport’s positive traits as red flags. He’s his own man, sure, and he could very well work out well in New Orleans. We just can’t ignore that players with a similar archetype haven’t done well in this situation.
Like Davenport, he’s exactly what the Saints are looking for in an athletic prototype at 6-foot-4 and 280 pounds, with long 33-inch arms giving him an impressive 79-inch wingspan. But like Davenport, White brings some injury concerns. He missed the first eight games of the 2021 season recovering from a broken ankle, and he’s still picking up the nuances of the position after starting his college career at tight end. There are a lot of similarities between the two players.
So it makes sense to link the Saints to someone with traits they’ve rolled the dice on before. At the same time, White brings many of the same risks that burned New Orleans in betting big on Davenport (and Turner, who the Saints drafted two years ago). He’s played just over 1,200 defensive snaps in his career, he’s missed most of a season to an injury already, and he’ll need to be coached up before he’s ready to start games on Sundays.
With that said, it does make sense for the Saints to go looking for another defensive end. But they need to shake the trends that didn’t work out for them before. There are other players in this position group who are more pro-ready and projected to be picked in the same range like Derick Hall (over 1,900 defensive snaps), BJ Ojulari (1,700), Tuli Tuipulotu and Will McDonald IV (1,500 each). If the Saints want to pick another pass-rusher early on, they should be looking for more of a finished product than someone who is two or three years away from helping them out.