Demario Davis is on top, but Kaden Elliss isn’t far behind. The veteran linebackers lead the New Orleans Saints player grades on defense from Pro Football Focus going into Week 13. These grades are assembled by charting every player on each snap during a game, then compiled over the course of a full season. Because of that, players with smaller snap counts who only see a small sample size are weighted heavier than every-down defenders.
They aren’t very educational or enlightening about how well someone is performing, but these player grades do make for conversation. Here is everyone inside the top-15 at this point in the year:
14
DT David Onyemata
Grade: 58.1
Snaps: 467 (12 games)
13
DB P.J. Williams
Grade: 64.4
Snaps: 515 (8 games)
12
DB Bryce Thompson
Grade: 66.0
Snaps: 7 (2 games)
11
S J.T. Gray
10
LB Pete Werner
Grade: 67.7
Snaps: 487 (9 games)
9
DE Cameron Jordan
Grade: 67.9
Snaps: 526 (11 games)
8
DE Payton Turner
Grade: 69.9
Snaps: 161 (7 games)
7
LB Andrew Dowell
Grade: 71.2
Snaps: 2 (2 games)
6
S Daniel Sorensen
Grade: 72.3
Snaps: 8 (6 games)
5
DE Marcus Davenport
Grade: 75.2
Snaps: 373 (10 games)
4
DE Carl Granderson
Grade: 76.9
Snaps: 276 (11 games)
3
S Tyrann Mathieu
Grade: 76.9
Snaps: 792 (12 games)
2
LB Kaden Elliss
Grade: 79.6
Snaps: 378 (12 games)
1
LB Demario Davis
Grade: 80.6
Snaps: 794 (12 games)
