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The New Orleans Saints had the NFL's deepest crew of defensive tackles in 2020.

Their interior depth allowed the defensive line to stay fresh late in games and gave them a decided advantage up front.

In the offseason, New Orleans' defensive front took a hit when they lost defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to the Jets in free agency.

Later, the team traded run-stuffer Malcom Brown because of salary cap issues.

New Orleans has star defensive tackle David Onyemata returning but didn't add another interior defender in free agency or the draft outside of promising undrafted rookie DT Lorenzo Neal, Jr.

The New Orleans Saints have been extremely fortunate the last three seasons by finding undrafted rookie contributors at the defensive tackle position.

Without Rankins and Brown, the Saints will count on one of those finds for significant production in 2021.

Shy Tuttle, 25, joined New Orleans as an undrafted rookie from Tennessee in 2019.

He was superstar running back Alvin Kamara's college teammate for two seasons in Knoxville.

He quickly carved out a spot in the rotation as a rookie and made an immediate impact.

In his first season with the Saints, Tuttle appeared in every game and recorded two sacks, six pressures, and four tackles for loss among his 21 total stops while playing in 32% of the defensive snaps.



Tuttle also supplied one of the biggest highlights of the 2019 season when he made an acrobatic interception of a Matt Ryan pass during a 26-18 Thanksgiving victory.

Better yet was how the big man stiff-armed and plowed over the Falcons signal-caller during his interception return.

Tuttle had a quieter sophomore campaign in 2020 but was still a key part of a menacing interior rotation.

Despite being inactive for three games, he still played in 31% of the defensive snaps.

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