BakoSaint

Some further analysis:

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-highest...023-nfl-season

If the Saints added Justin Simmons, they would have the 3rd best safety in the NFC South behind the top ranked safeties in the league the Bucs Antoine Winfield and the Falcons Jessie Bates. That 3rd best safety in the NFC South would be Tyrann Mathieu, who they already have, the #10 safety in the league per pff. Xavier Woods of the Panthers would be close at #12 in the league. Where would Justin Simmons fall? He would upgrade the Saints incredibly from Jordan Howden's 67.0 pff score to his own 67.9 pff score, almost a full 1 point increase. And Simmons is only 8 years older than Howden, so whats really important is the 0.9 increase now, because 24yo standout rookies never improve more than 0.9 points their second year.

But whats more important is the amazing culture we could build by throwing a standout rookie who earned a starting gig under the bus in favor of an aging name guy who analytics say isn't meaningfully better. All our young players will have an incredible incentive to work hard if they know we will always be looking for a Drew Bledsoe to replace the Tom Brady they hope to become.

Of course Simmons is a ball hawk, and has averaged 4-5 INT's per season over his career. With Simmons, we could have a chance to lead the NFL in INTs. Last years NFL leader in INTS (breaking tie with least passing attempts faced) was the 2023 Chicago Bears and we know that made them contenders.