The New Orleans Saints defense had been one of the best parts of the team for a long time, but has fallen off a cliff this season. It has mostly been the offense catching heat for the terrible record, but the other side of the football hasn’t been much better.
One of the main reasons for that is something has been plaguing the defense for years now: the lack of a true pass rush. Pro Football Focus has been updating a ranking of the top-32 pass rushers in the NFL all season, and the list currently has zero Saints defenders on it. It isn’t surprising after watching the games, but is certainly not where the team wants to be.
Per the PFF metrics, Carl Granderson and Chase Young have been pretty much the same at rushing the passer this season. Granderson has a slight-edge with a 13.9% win-rate, leading to 56 pressures, while Young has a 13.1% rate and team-leading 58 pressures.
Granderson at least has an argument to make the list over Denver Broncos end Nik Bonitto, who has a 13.4% rate and 49 pressures. Bonitto has been much better in the second half of the season, which is probably why he is ahead right now.
The sack leader in New Orleans right now is Bryan Bresee with 7.5. While the Saints need a lot of help on the roster next year, defensive end might be chief among them. It is hard to win games when you can’t pressure the quarterback efficiently.