The New Orleans Saints won't be one of the first defenses selected in early fantasy drafts. ADP data shows them being drafted outside the top dozen in sack and takeaway-based systems. People tend to focus on their offense, which looks like an oversight.
Mostly, it appears that their pass rush is being underestimated. From 2014-2016, the Saints had just 30-34 sacks; below average totals. But the last three years have been very different.
Cameron Jordan (pictured) has had at least a dozen sacks in each of those seasons; I think he's generally underrated. And their trade up two years ago to select Marcus Davenport seems to have panned out; he has 10.5 sacks over the last two seasons, though he's missed three games each year.
Collectively, the Saints from 2017-2019 have 142 sacks -- an average of more than 47 per season. That's more sacks over that span than anyone but Pittsburgh.
TEAM SACKS, 2017-2019 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Defense | '17 | '18 | '19 | Total |
Pittsburgh | 56 | 52 | 54 | 162 |
New Orleans | 42 | 49 | 51 | 142 |
LA Rams | 48 | 41 | 50 | 139 |
Jacksonville | 55 | 37 | 47 | 139 |
Carolina | 50 | 35 | 53 | 138 |
Minnesota | 37 | 50 | 48 | 135 |
Washington | 42 | 46 | 46 | 134 |
Kansas City | 31 | 52 | 45 | 128 |
Arizona | 37 | 49 | 40 | 126 |
Tennessee | 43 | 39 | 43 | 125 |
Philadelphia | 38 | 44 | 43 | 125 |
Chicago | 42 | 50 | 32 | 124 |
Green Bay | 37 | 44 | 41 | 122 |
Baltimore | 41 | 43 | 37 | 121 |
New England | 42 | 30 | 47 | 119 |
Denver | 33 | 44 | 40 | 117 |
Dallas | 38 | 39 | 39 | 116 |
San Francisco | 30 | 37 | 48 | 115 |
LA Chargers | 43 | 38 | 30 | 111 |
Seattle | 39 | 43 | 28 | 110 |
Cleveland | 34 | 37 | 38 | 109 |
Tampa Bay | 22 | 38 | 47 | 107 |
Buffalo | 27 | 36 | 44 | 107 |
Houston | 32 | 43 | 31 | 106 |
Detroit | 35 | 43 | 28 | 106 |
Cincinnati | 41 | 34 | 31 | 106 |
Indianapolis | 25 | 38 | 41 | 104 |
Atlanta | 39 | 37 | 28 | 104 |
NY Jets | 28 | 39 | 35 | 102 |
NY Giants | 27 | 30 | 36 | 93 |
Miami | 30 | 31 | 23 | 84 |
Oakland | 31 | 13 | 32 | 76 |
The Saints have ranked in the top 10 in takeaways in two of those three seasons. Slight improvement there would make them a more desirable fantasy group. For now, they're a little under the radar. I think they make a lot of sense 7-9 defenses into drafts, with top-5 potential.
--Andy Richardson