The team at Pro Football Focus has continued to update its All-Decade Top 101, ranking the best players in the NFL over the last ten years. And it shouldn’t surprise anyone that several New Orleans Saints have already made an appearance.
It’s quite a comprehensive piece — one-time Saints wideout Dez Bryant also cracked the list, at No. 75; embittered ex-Saints practice participant Brandon Marshall was also ranked at No. 61 — but so far, just three current Saints players have been recognized.
PFF is updating its list each day this week, with the final wave dropping on Thursday. So stay tuned to see whether big names like Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, or Alvin Kamara get listed.
One of the Saints rated highly by PFF hasn’t even played a down in New Orleans yet, which should get fans even more excited about his arrival. Let’s get started:
87. Emmanuel Sanders
Sanders spent most of the 2010’s languishing in quarterback purgatory, directly suffering from general manager John Elway’s failure to find a franchise quarterback after Peyton Manning hung up his cleats. But he still played at a high level and benefited from a change of scenery at last year’s trade deadline. He should soar even higher in New Orleans after getting paired with Drew Brees. PFF’s Sam Monson wrote of Sanders:
Recovering from a torn Achilles and returning as if nothing happened only exemplifies the kind of incredible consistency we have seen from Emmanuel Sanders throughout his NFL career. Even at 32 years old, Sanders made an immediate impact with the San Francisco 49ers, whose passing offense was notably transformed when he arrived through trade midway through the 2019 season. Sanders has hauled in 92.5% of the catchable passes thrown his way in the decade, dropping just 4.9% of them.
82. Terron Armstead
Armstead has a tough rep with Saints fans due to his lengthy injury history, and that’s something the PFF team acknowledged. But few pass rushers can beat him when he’s on the field and playing as close to 100% as possible. Armstead’s career arc has been what every small school draft prospect should hope for, having come up from Arkansas-Pine Bluff to earn All-Pro recognition.
Only injuries keep us from seeing Terron Armstead as the best left tackle in the NFL. He has never lasted a full 16-game NFL season and has fewer than 5,000 snaps in his seven-year career, even including several deep postseason runs. Armstead has never graded below 75.0 over a season and his best years see him in and around the magical 90.0-grade barrier of truly elite players. Only Joe Thomas and Andrew Whitworth have surrendered pressure at a lower rate than Armstead’s 4.1% clip over the course of his career.
65. Cameron Jordan
Jordan is a couple of good seasons away from claiming the Saints’ record for career sacks, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Jackson (115). Jordan has put in the work to develop his craft after a quiet rookie season way back in 2011, climbing the ladder to put 87 sacks on his name. He’s still young enough to continue playing at an elite level and should anchor the Saints defense for years to come.
One of the most underrated players in the league, Jordan has had an incredible career as an edge defender despite playing in a “tweener” body that many would have liked to see on the interior. Even at 287 pounds, Jordan challenges offensive tackles on the edge as a pass-rusher, grading at 82.0 or better in each of the last four seasons while annually ranking as one of the league’s best run defenders. The other impressive part of Jordan’s game is his durability, as he’s played at least 950 snaps every year since 2011 while playing over 1,000 five times when you include the playoffs.
