Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

The New Orleans Saints let defensive end Trey Hendrickson get away in free agency after he had a breakout 2020 season no one saw coming.

So now, more than ever, the Saints need defensive end Marcus Davenport to have a breakout of his own.

Davenport has shown impressive glimpses during his first three seasons. But thanks in large part to injuries, the 24-year-old has not yet made the kind of consistent impact the Saints were hoping for when they paid a steep price to trade up and land him with the 14th pick in the 2018 NFL draft. They traded away their 2019 first-rounder and 2018 fifth-rounder to move up 13 spots.

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Now they also have a big decision looming on whether to double-down on that investment. They have to decide whether to pick up Davenport’s fifth-year option by May 3, which would cost them a guaranteed $9.5 million in 2022.

That would be a significant wager, considering the Saints’ severe salary-cap constraints. And if they do it, they’ll be banking on his potential more than his production.

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Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

Carl Granderson is going to have a better year than Davenport.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

Uh, yea. Said everyone two years ago.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

Needed him to be our breakout pass rusher when we used two 1sts on him. He’s spent more time watching anime and dying his hair than he has sacking QB’s.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

He’s not much better dying than he is at sacking.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

Meh ...

Last year it was his foot, the year before it was his elbow. This is his 4th season in NO.

Marcus needs to stay on the field in 2021 and produce.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

BTW 9.5M is kinda cheap even for a inconsistent pass rusher.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

He'll need to step for a whole season to deserve an extension. Even then, he's no Caneron Jordan.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

I would just hate for him to go somewhere else and tear up the league like Akiem Hicks did.

Re: Saints need Marcus Davenport to be their next breakout pass-rusher
 

And it's not like he's been double teamed all the time. He had Cam on the other side.

They put Trey in there and gave him more snaps...guess what? The guy ends up being a badass.

Truth be told, I really wonder what we could've gotten had we had Trey in there more often over the last few years instead of pushing paper cut man in there all the time.