Canal Street Chronicles
New Orleans may have more work to do.
The New Orleans Saints have had a great offseason, improving their defense from good to great. Bringing in Chase Young to solidify the edge rush group and drafting Khristian Boyd, who can greatly improve the run defense, were amazing moves that could elevate this defense to another level. Looking at every defensive position group, it is very hard to find any issues, but one spot does stick out. The safety group has been the one question mark on defense, and the Saints have not hidden this. In no way are the safeties bad; Tyrann Mathieu has shown consistency and production, Jordan Howden has been able to make big plays and have positional flexibility, and new addition Will Harris has been a camp standout and is familiar with the defensive scheme. At face value, this is a good safety room, but if the Saints want to be the number one defense in the league, the team needs to do two things: add competition and sign depth.
In the wake of trying to get the roster down to 53 players, veterans Johnathan Abram and Ugo Amadi were released. Abram competed for the second safety position battle, and Ugo Amadi was versatile enough to play safety/cornerback. After the deadline, the Saints only had four safeties on the roster: Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Howden, Will Harris, and J.T. Gray. If the competition for the second safety is still ongoing, then the battle is between Howden and Harris. J.T. Gray usually plays on special teams, so although he is listed as a safety, he is not a part of the position battle. Adding more competition can further improve the defense. The Saints know this and have already tried to add a top safety in free agency, Justin Simmons. Although there may not be a safety of his caliber, good options are still available.
Looking at last year’s initial 53-man roster, the Saints went into the season with six safeties. Almost every player apart from this group played in-game minutes at safety. If the Saints go into the season with only four safeties on the roster, then that is very risky. Injuries are bound to happen, and the Saints should prepare now for it to happen. The Saints should add another safety spot to the active roster, if injuries occur during games. This can be done by removing a spot from one of the positions that already have a lot of spots, such as linebacker, or using injured reserve – designated to return spot on an injured player, such as Nick Saldiveri. The other option is to use some of the practice squad spots on multiple safeties. The Saints have already started to do this by bringing back Johnathan Abram, Ugo Amadi, and Millard Bradford.
The Saints’ roster is very fluid, and many changes could be made from now until the start of the season. It would not be surprising to see them add...
