Where will Saints defense finish in 2016?
The New Orleans Saints have been here before.
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After fielding the league’s worst defense in the 2012 season, which gave up 440 yards and 28.4 points per game, they jumped to fourth-best in 2013. They surrendered just 305.7 yards and 19 points per game.
In the 2015 season, they were second-last in yards allowed, giving up 413.8 yards a game, but finished last in scoring after giving up 29.8 points a game. So heading into 2016, can we see a revival?
The reasons to be optimistic are there. After the 2012 season, they hired Rob Ryan to take over for Steve Spagnuolo, and the rest was history. Their roster didn’t even go through a major overhaul on that side of the ball, but this year’s a different story.
Incoming are veteran pass-rushers Nick Fairley and James Laurinaitis, plus pass-rushing phenom Sheldon Rankins who was taken with the 12th pick. A healthy Keenan Lewis and Jairus Byrd should also do wonders.
With Dennis Allen now at the helm, the Saints defense should automatically get better. Now they have three-pass rushers to help out Cameron Jordan, and that will automatically help the secondary, as quarterbacks won’t have all day to throw.
Considering we saw a major turnover before, it’s not out of the running for the Saints defense to possibly become a top five-to-10 unit in 2016, but that might be asking for too much. Delvin Breaux’s surgence last season was a huge help, but can he maintain that level?
If all the right pieces come together, the Saints defense should be top-notch. But there’s no reason to believe it can’t at least be in the top-half in 2016.
It can’t get any worse for that matter.
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