The New Orleans Saints are set to lose multiple key players to free agency this offseason, including a number of entrenched starters. In order to minimize the effect of those losses, the Saints will turn towards the 2020 NFL Draft and the free agency signing period to help fill those holes on the roster. But, there are internal options under contract for 2020 and beyond that could potentially step in right away. Some of that is by design, while others are more like happy accidents. Here are four candidates that could replace some of the Saints’ pending free agents.
Shy Tuttle for David Onyemata
New Orleans acquired Onyemata in a draft-day trade, climbing the board in the fourth round back in 2016. The athletic defensive tackle instantly became a productive member of the Saints defensive front. Now, he is set for free agency, and it appears his replacement is waiting in the wings.
Tuttle is set to help take over Onyemata’s production in 2020, and he has already become endeared to the Saints’ fan base. Despite logging only 373 snaps in 2019, he made the most of them, and even intercepted Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan on Thanksgiving Day before delivering an iconic stiff-arm. But he’s more than just that one highlight; a starting gig for Tuttle could be an upgrade over Onyemata.
Tre’Quan Smith for Ted Ginn Jr.
Ginn is a near-certainty to not return to the Saints in 2020, thanks to the downward trend that’s developed since his breakout 2017 season. As such, his role in helping stretch the field vertically with his speed will need to be replaced. While the wide receiver draft class is incredibly deep this year, the Saints do have an internal candidate for that role in Smith, a 2018 draft pick.
Smith will be entering his third season in 2020, and each year so far has brought renewed promise that it could be his “breakout” season. However, an injury-ravaged 2019 season prevented him from having that type of success. Now, he has the opportunity to have a clearly defined role in the offense, and that breakout season might come in 2020 as Ginn’s replacement. If not, he risks running out of time to stick around in the NFL.
Kiko Alonso for A.J. Klein
Klein played well enough in 2019 while helping keep the linebacker corps functioning in the wake of injuries to Alex Anzalone and Alonso. However, he is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and it would probably require significant money to keep him around. The Saints appear to have identified that by trading for Alonso just before the 2019 season started.
Alonso is the ideal internal candidate to replace Klein’s production going forward. In 2019, Alonso was given a 69.5 grade by Pro Football Focus, which would rank him as the 32nd best linebacker in the league. In contrast, Klein was given a grade of 46.2, which ranked him 119th at his position. Of course Klein played nearly three times more the amount of snaps than Alonso due to injury — he was slowed down by a quad muscle issue before tearing his ACL in the playoffs. The Saints would probably like to upgrade with Alonso over Klein, but he has to get healthy first.
Nick Easton for Andrus Peat
Peat won’t be returning in 2020. No, that isn’t confirmed yet, but we’ve got a hunch. When he wasn’t injured, Peat was a liability in both pass protection and run blocking last year. No player is perfect, and they all have weaknesses; it’s understandable if a guard struggles in one area or the other. But you can’t be bad at both, and Peat struggled in most of his assignments last season. Therefore, the guard position will need to be addressed.
Easton spent most of the 2019 season as a highly-paid benchwarmer, sitting out the first few months, and had an almost-identical Pro Football Focus grade to Peat at 47.7. While Easton is currently the clear-cut internal option to replace Peat as an experienced former starter with the Minnesota Vikings, he could just as easily become a salary cap casualty. If that were the case, third-year pro Will Clapp would be another leading candidate to help fill Peat’s current role.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson for Vonn Bell, or P.J. Williams
Bell finally broke out for the Saints in 2019, emerging as a turnover machine who recorded his first career interception while leading the league in fumble recoveries (5). He’s a sure tackler and plays with a versatile skills set, making plays close to the line of scrimmage on blitzes while also running ably deep downfield in coverage. It’s just a shame that it took him so long to win a starting job (remember when Kurt Coleman started ahead of him in 2018?) and that the Saints have so many other free agents to pay this summer. Williams probably won’t be expensive, but he’s kind of redundant if the Saints have both Gardner-Johnson and Patrick Robinson to defend the slot.
At least they added Gardner-Johnson, who was one of the team’s biggest-impact rookies. Gardner-Johnson runs well and hits hard, looking more like a linebacker than a contact-anxious defensive back in run defense. He tackles with his head up and could teach his teammates a thing or two about good technique. The rookie also has ball skills for days, even if he wasn’t tested often in coverage. He figures to be a critical piece to the secondary moving forward. The only question is whether he replaces Bell (the more natural fit) or Williams (Gardner-Johnson’s best plays came in slot coverage, which is where Williams started last season).
