Should Saints Take A Chance On An “Aging” Free Agent Pass Rusher?

<![CDATA[As the franchise tags rolled in from various sports networks and media members, the chance of the New Orleans Saints filling a position that head coach Sean Payton called a “must” began to dwindle.

Arizona Cardinals Chandler Jones was the first pass rusher to go, and frankly not much of a surprise, followed by the New York Giants Jason Pierre-Paul and Los Angeles Chargers Melvin Ingram.

Ingram was the one big name that Saints beat writers and fans alike had tabbed as a realistic target for the team, but as the days got closer to the tag deadline it was clear that moving to L.A. meant the Chargers wanted to keep a marquee name for their impending move.

And let’s be realistic, it’s been said numerous times over the past few weeks that teams are not going to just let a proven player especially a pass rushing defensive end/outside linebacker that can get to the quarterback out of the building without a fight.

The upcoming draft seems to be the legit shot for the Saints to land a pass rusher or compliment piece to defensive end Cameron Jordan.

But even with the eleventh selection in the draft faith in the organization to land an immediate starter is still shaky, although last year’s first round pick Sheldon Rankins seems to be a home run at defensive tackle.

While Rankins shows big potential to be a starter in his limited play due to injury last season, a majority of Who Dat’s are really hoping the team is able to bring back veteran Nick Fairley at the position to continue the consistent promise you saw at tackle.

If the Saints had a veteran pass rusher to ease the transition of a rookie then the uneasiness of that would be subdued some.

Look at the Atlanta Falcons Vic Beasley Jr., who was mocked to the Saints early and often in 2015, managing only four sacks his rookie year and had many wondering if the Dirty Birds had bought into his draft hype.

But this past season he almost quadrupled his sack total to 15.5 and left us wondering what turned the light on for him.

That answer came into the form of “aging” 37 year-old pass rushing veteran Dwight Freeney who the Falcons signed on a whim for a one-year/$1 million dollar contract after he had a slight resurgence in his career while with the Cardinals in 2015.

Now “aging” could be taken in several ways in the NFL when it comes to any player whether it’s referring to simply age(30 years old onset of old man status in the NFL), performance, nagging injuries, or all of the above.

While Freeney only posted three sacks in 2016, his value came in the tutelage he gave players like Beasley and took on the role of teacher as well as mentor.

Speaking of value, that’s also the plus of signing someone like Freeney due to the “aging” label is they usually can be had for cheap deals which would be great for the Saints who although will have some money to spend this year, need to be diligent and wise with the contract handed out.

It makes you wonder with the lack of “top dollar” pass rushers out there(saying a thankful prayer) if the Saints should take the chance on a player like Freeney to mentor and teach the incoming rookie pass rusher the team is *currently favored to select with the eleventh pick.

*Unnecessary Disclaimer–the Saints have been know to pull a “Crazy Ivan” before and totally go in a different direction but we’ll go with this…for now.

The Saints had hoped defensive end Paul Kruger would produce some pass rush ability when he was signed as a late free agent, but the 31 year old Kruger posted his lowest sack totals of his career(1.5) since 2009 when he played with the Baltimore Ravens and had zero playing in nine games and in 2010 registering one sack after playing in eleven that season.

Currently the Saints have plenty of bodies on the roster to plug in at pass rusher but their availability due to questions about their health or ability make the situation seem as dire as at cornerback which no surprise was labeled as a “must” by Payton as well.

Defensive end Chris Long who played with the New England Patriots last season is a name I’ve seen Saints fans post on social media as one they’d like to see come in, complete with the emoji “looka here” side-eyes when he announced he wouldn’t be re-signing with the team.

The reason for this was Long’s apparent desire to play a more prominent role as defensive end instead of sharing snaps like he did in New England when he averaged 50 snaps in the first four games as compared to 36.5 the final four.

They went down even more in the playoffs and Super Bowl as he only averaged close to 20 snaps per game and almost solely on passing downs even though  ProFootball Focus had him graded out evenly on defending the run as well as rushing the passer.

The only concern with Long, who’s 31 years of age like Kruger, is will he want full-time money to go with his snaps and the chance of him becoming Kruger 2.0 is a possibility.

Yeah I know he said in his farewell to Pats fans that it’s “zero to do with money” but I take that with a grain of salt like the other hundreds of times a player has said the same thing and then held out and/or then signed a huge contract.

After posting back to back double digit sack seasons in 32 games during the 2011 and 2012 season Long has posted the numbers:

• 2013–16 games/16 starts/8.5 sacks
• 2014–6 games/6 starts/1 sack
• 2015–12 games/5 starts/3 sacks
• 2016–16 games/ 7 starts/4 sacks

Long may be correct in it having nothing to do with money because I don’t see him getting a huge deal from a team like the Saints unless they totally just…well I don’t even want to think about it.

There are other grizzled vets out there on the market currently such as Freeney, DeMarcus Ware(34 years old), Julius Peppers(37 years old), and Lorenzo Alexander(33 years old).

Alexander garnered some attention from me early on due to his 12.5 sacks in 2016, but looking at his career that number can be deceptive since he only averaged one sack per year in the previous nine seasons.

Ware is one like Freeney who could be brought in to not only provide some value in the pass rush department, but also take on the role of a teacher with the only issue being monetary of course as well as injuries which limited him the past two seasons to only 21 games.

I will say I’ve always liked Ware as a player along with his willingness to keep teammates in line such as the time his former Dallas Cowboys teammate and wide receiver Dez Bryant threw a tantrum during a game(shocker), which Ware quickly and visibly scolded him for on live T.V.

If the Saints do decide to bring in pass rush help from the post-30 year old crowd, they must accomplish what they have failed to do on a large scale in free agency for several seasons which is get a contributor who will return their investment in the form of production on the field and presence in the locker room.

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