K Major

Circle back to those 2013-2015 defenses Atlanta had while Nolan was there. They were eerily similar to the 2016 Saints defense ... little to no pass rush, lack of talent at LB, bad depth & and a ton of injuries to the secondary. Things didn't turn around until they acquired solid Free Agents, & drafted well (Beasley, Jalen C, Garrett, Neal and Debo). Quinn & his staff were able to "coach up" talent (see their Super Bowl appearance). Unfortunately for Mike, he never had a chance to work with most of those current players. I agree Mike has his work cut out for him, however there is some talent in New Orleans on D. Gotta stay somewhat healthy though.

If the Saints D can crack the top 20 in total defense this year ... brace yourself for a playoff run.

K Major

Too much DC turnover, terrible LB coaches, bad luck with FA's, poor evaluating of talent on D etc, etc. 32nd ranking shouldn't be much of a surprise to most. As a unit, this has been the weakest position for many years in New Orleans.

Hopefully with the new positional coaches on staff now, we should improve as a group.

Side note - IMO Craig Robertson was a nice addition to the roster when I thought he would be nothing more than a role player. It's time for Stephone, Klein, Teo to step up in 2017.

Utah_Saint

It was nice to see Ellerbe NOT listed in the injuries category.

jnormand

Wow. 32nd. Good hell....we haven't had a good LB since Johnny V. Man I miss having badass LBs.

neugey

Can't say I hate the #32 ranking based on recent history. I guess you could say most of our linebackers haven't been worth a ... Vitt.

Rugby Saint II

If Ellerbe can stay on the field while Anzalone gets his feet under him them I'm comfortable with the players at Will.

Robertson can get the job done in the middle but Klein, Teo and Anthony all have the potential to be very good.

Whoever is left to play Sam will have to share time with a safety occasionally so we should be ok there.

I'll be honest I professed Laurinitis as our Savior last year and I thought Harper still had it. I was excited about Anthony and the sky was the limit.

The difference this year is better talent in FA and the draft. We all need to remember about the addition of our new LB'er coach and I believe that Nolan is one of the best position coaches in the league.

And Kikaha plays DE not LB'er.....however, the LB'ers should improve with the defensive line under another new coaching addition as well.

voodooido

Wow that's a little harsh. Last in the league???????

ChrisXVI

I might be coming acrossed as pessimistic by saying they're awful and that's not my intention at all. I think we have good enough LB's, but it doesn't seem like we have any dogs. No game changers.

I do however think we have the makings of an elite secondary (yeah I said it lol.) If our D-Line can be fundamentally sound and contain the run then it'll definitely make things easier on Nolan's crew.

blackangold

A well deserved ranking IMO...

Made solid additions that could pan out, the coaching change likely bearing the most fruit. Time will tell but I could see this group being slightly better than average once the season is under way.

Beastmode

The parody of the NFL. I would not at all be surprised if our LB's are rated #1 by the end of the season. I have pretty much accepted that whatever the experts say about the Saints the opposite happens more often than not. Michael Thomas, nobody saw that coming and I mean nobody.