SmashMouth

How talented are the 2018 New Orleans Saints?

You can get a good indication by checking out other NFL rosters.

As of Wednesday, 16 players released or traded by the Saints during training camp are on the rosters of other NFL teams, including 11 who were part of the Saints final roster cuts in September. One other, defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence, was traded to the Cleveland Browns on the day of final cuts.

The latest export was running back Boston Scott, a sixth-round pick of the Saints in the 2018 draft who was signed Monday by the Philadelphia Eagles from the Saints practice squad.

This revelation tell us a few things:

One, the Saints roster is loaded with talent and depth. There have been years in the past when the Saints didn’t have 53 legitimate NFL talents on the roster. The Saints would cut players and they would eventually be forced to abandon their NFL dreams for a business career in the real world. No one wanted the Saints' cast-offs.

Things have changed dramatically on Airline Drive.

NFL coaches preach all the time in camp about how they will cut players on their roster that will play for other NFL teams. In Sean Payton’s case, it wasn’t just coach speak.

This year’s Saints were so deep they released or traded 16 players during camp that were good enough to play in the league. That’s the definition of quality depth.

It’s also a credit to the acumen and diligence of the Saints’ personnel department, led by assistant general manager Jeff Ireland and director of pro personnel Terry Fontenot.

The overhaul of the club’s personnel department in 2015 has paid off.

Ireland’s last three drafts have yielded nine starters -- Alex Anzalone, Vonn Bell, Alvin Kamara, Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Sheldon Rankins, Tre’Quan Smith, Michael Thomas and Marcus Williams – and three key reserves -- Marcus Davenport, Trey Hendrickson David Onyemata -- a 12-man core that figures to keep the Saints in the playoff/championship mix for the foreseeable future.

The Saints were so deep this year they elected to cut four picks from their seven-man 2018 draft class. All four have landed on other NFL rosters.



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K Major

"This year’s Saints were so deep they released or traded 16 players during camp that were good enough to play in the league. That’s the definition of quality depth".


^^^^

AsylumGuido

I said basically the same thing in the Boston Scott thread. Anytime you have virtually every drafted player make your squad that indicates that your squad had no depth in the first place and was flawed. The deeper your roster the less valuable the draft picks become. That's one reason why I have no problem packaging picks to get a potential impact starter (ie. Davenport and Ingram).

73Saint

That's pretty telling, to say the least!