Yet another veteran has been sent packing in what has become a bloodbath of an offseason in terms of slashing the current roster. The latest victim is veteran starting nose tackle Brodrick Bunkley who was released after failing a physical. Bunkley was attempting to recover from a torn pectoral last season and clearly the rehab has not gone to the Saints’ satisfaction. In case you’re keeping count, the Saints have now released two starters from their defensive line in the last 24 hours. What looked like Galette-Hicks-Bunkley-Jordan with the Spencer-Williams-Jenkins-Foster sub rotation on the opening day roster has become Spencer-Hicks-Jenkins-Jordan as starters with Kikaha-Williams-Davison-Foster as the subs. What a difference 24 hours makes. And this assumes no injuries prior to week 1. Oh, by the way, Foster is on the PUP list. Here is the latest roster news.
So the Saints’ current roster sits at 89 and it’s safe to assume they’ll be bringing in a new body in the next 48 hours. Hopefully that will be more competition on the defensive line. What’s a real shame is the failure to sign Da’Quan Bowers after a workout earlier this offseason. He seems like he would have been good competition for the Saints if they had known Galette and Bunkley would be gone but unfortunately he just re-signed with the Bucs for the league minimum.
So where does this leave the defensive line? Well Bunkley is an unspectacular starter at this point but he’s still a guy that’s good enough to make the roster when healthy and likely start. He’s not healthy, but the fact that the Saints were counting on him speaks to their lack of depth on the defensive line. To replace the now gone Bunkley the Saints will be counting on John Jenkins, who had a major sophomore slump like many on the defense last year, and Kevin Williams who is 35 in a few weeks. Between the two we’re talking about a guy loaded with potential that has struggled to live up to it and a has been superstar that is a shell of his former self. Don’t sleep on Lawrence Virgil either who really impressed me in limited playing time at the end of last season, but he’s a little celebrated undrafted DII player. He has the size and potential to be a nose tackle in the league but it’s unrealistic to assume he’ll give the Saints valuable snaps all season. The issue is that the defensive line was already a perceived weakness before the Saints said goodbye to what are arguably their best run stuffer and pass rusher. They also lost their most promising young rotational player in Tyrunn Walker to the Lions this offseason. Now? We’re counting on the likes of an injured Glenn Foster, a 5th round draft pick in Tyeler Davison, an aging Williams and a promising rookie in Hau’oli Kikaha to provide quality rotation snaps. That says nothing of the question marks presented by starters in Jenkins who played poorly last year, Hicks who like Jenkins regressed majorly, and Spencer who has a balky knee. The only sure thing on this defense line is Cameron Jordan, who had a disappointing year last season as well. Put simply, the talent and production across the line is average at best. The one name I’ve yet to mention is Kasim Edebali who is a good young developmental project with good explosiveness and potential. He’s a rotational guy in the mix here too. But from a position standpoint he’s mostly in competition with Spencer and Kikaha that for now are ahead of him.
The Saints did a poor job in the draft addressing the defensive line and that was a known gripe by most of us. If you look at the defensive line a year ago they were disappointing and with Galette and Bunkley now both gone I see little evidence that it’s been improved at all. If anything, it might be worse. Had we known Galette and Bunkley would no longer be part of the roster prior to training camp, the failure to select a defensive lineman besides Davison in the 5th round would have felt even more disappointing at the time. I think the coaching staff and Loomis/Ireland roster evaluating talent would agree. Missing out by one pick on Danny Shelton feels a lot more pronounced now. To me it’s very clear this is by far the weakest area on the team now. The front 3 or 4 is already in question and the depth behind them is even more thin. With the exception of Kikaha on passing downs there’s not much to get excited about and that assumes an immediate impact. The Saints will need some pleasant surprises to improve up front in what now looks like the team’s Achilles’ heel. Keep an eye on the Saints picking up a defensive lineman during final cuts to boost depth.
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