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An excellent article on the Saints safety positions from departing players to returning players to free agent pickups to draft possibilities.

Analyzing Dennis Allen's comments and Saints moves at safety ahead of 2022 draft

Maddy Hudak
April 12, 2022 9:49 am CT

While the 2022 NFL draft will offer insight into head coach Dennis Allen’s vision for the New Orleans Saints, the quiet free agency signings already tell a story. The Saints were known for a few things under Sean Payton: artfully handling chaos, innovative play calling, and leaning into players’ strengths. What Payton was to the offense is what Dennis Allen has been to the defensive turnaround since the 2015 season. Mainly, a formidable identity – one not accomplished through the flashiest moves. And it’s not a bad philosophy. You can see it unfolding through their low-key acquisitions at safety.

The other side of the coin is the cautionary tale of Jairus Byrd, whose five-year, $54 million contract never came close to living up to its value. It’s not that he only played four games his first season; he was a non-factor in terms of production. To add insult to injury, his contract correlated with the departure of Malcolm Jenkins to Philadelphia, where he played his best football – something that feels timely given his retirement this offseason. The loss of Jenkins stings from a personnel perspective, but the greatest void is veteran leadership to mentor young players and build team culture. That’s where New Orleans looks to free agency.

“As an overall philosophy I’d rather augment our team through free agency and really build our team through the draft,” Allen said during a media availability session at NFL owners meetings in March. The team’s defense is rooted in young draft prospects, but it’s always been bolstered by a foundation of mid-level free agent signings with a lot of versatility — like linebackers A.J. Klein and Demario Davis. Unexciting as it may seem, Allen’s approach to free agency shows clear intent to not make that mistake twice. Those blueprints can be found in the latest additions to the secondary unit.

Marcus Williams, now a Baltimore Raven, has range that’s nearly irreplaceable. But he wasn’t the best tackler. He rarely offered run support – something that’s lost with Malcolm Jenkins. He wasn’t tasked with blitzing – that’s P.J. Williams and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. With the Williams-Jenkins tandem, New Orleans had defined strong and free starting safeties. Allen noted at the owners meetings interview that he sees value in the converse – two players with interchangeable skill sets.

“In a perfect world scenario, you’d like to have the flexibility that they can both play back and down in the paint,” Allen said. While acknowledging that’s the typically the exception to the rule, it mirrored his comments on Marcus Maye’s signing. Allen touted his veteran presence, flexibility to play strong and free, range, intelligence, and instincts – essentially the versatility he covets.

The timing of the Maye signing coincided with the departure of Marcus Williams; it wasn’t clear he had the range to serve as his replacement in the backend. Then Malcolm Jenkins retired. Maye’s scheme fit and usage became a bit clearer, but didn’t necessarily account for the full loss of range. The next puzzle pieces were in quick succession – the first a crucial re-signing of P.J. Williams. They then acquired former second round pick Justin Evans for a cap hit of less than a million. The low risk, high upside move illustrates the value in Allen’s roster-building approach.

Here’s what should further instill confidence: co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Kris Richard. His impact was palpable the moment he stepped on the practice field during last year’s training camp. He was active in the backfield, frequent with engaging communication. In one season, he developed rookie Paulson Adebo into a starting corner, elevated Lattimore to elite levels, and made P.J. Williams into a versatile playmaker.

Richard has several chess pieces to now work with. The safety unit as it stands features C.J. Gardner-Johnson, P.J. Williams, Marcus Maye, Justin Evans, and potentially Bradley Roby at slot. Williams, Maye, and Evans are a jack of all trades, master of none trio –with complementary, versatile skills. I’m currently a student with the Scouting Academy, and my first position group was safety. I watched three games of Evans from 2017, and three of Maye’s from last season. Let’s look at their traits and production numbers to see how New Orleans moves forward at the role.

Quick methodology: I calculated player stats based on percentage of snaps played; it’s more indicative of true playmaking when evaluating injured players. I looked at the last three seasons from 2019-2021 – which lines up with P.J. Williams switching to safety – apart from Evans from 2017-18. All numbers pulled from Pro Football Reference.



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