Saints free agent review: LB Kaden Elliss, stay or go?

There might not be another player who made the most of his contract year with the New Orleans Saints in 2022 than Kaden Elliss. The veteran linebacker has been cast as a backup since being drafted out of Idaho back in 2019, logging more snaps on special teams (880) than defense (826) in his Saints career. But he got his opportunity to show what he can do when starting linebacker Pete Werner missed a large chunk of the 2022 season with an injury, and now Elliss has the Saints facing a really difficult decision.

Can they afford to let him get out of the building? Demario Davis is likely to retire within the next couple of years, but Elliss won’t be starting if Davis and Werner both return for 2023. It would be nice to make a clean transition from Davis-and-Werner to Werner-and-Elliss, but that’s not going to be an easy trick to pull off. With the Saints still running few three-linebacker looks, odds are Elliss will have other opportunities to start in free agency. Let’s recap his 2022 campaign and forecast his future in 2023:

Season stats

Elliss racked up a personal-best 78 tackles (43 solo, 35 assists, 7 tackles for loss) in 2022 while making a lot of plays as a pass rusher. He was officially credited with 7 sacks and Pro Football Focus charting gave him 20 pressures, which ranked him among the Saints’ team leaders. That’s really impressive for someone playing more of a bit part in the first half of the season. Elliss also had an average depth of tackle at just 2.3 yards on run plays, which ranked fourth-best among every linebacker in the NFL to play at least 200 run-defense snaps (Elliss had 294, for the record).

Snap counts

Elliss totaled 630 defensive snaps in 2022, which is wild considering he only had 196 of them in his first three years combined. But he’s remained a fixture on the special teams units with 278 snaps played last season; that lines up with his single-season totals of 279 and 276 in 2021 and 2020.

2022 season review

Elliss made plays on running downs and as a pass rusher, though he wasn’t asked to do much in coverage — PFF says he was targeted 32 times, allowing 25 receptions for 234 yards, neither allowing any touchdown catches nor snagging any interceptions. He also broke up a pair of passes. On the whole he looks like a steady linebacker who can help in a couple of different situations. It would be nice if the Saints can re-sign Elliss, but he feels like exactly the sort of player who has left in free agency to go do good things with other teams in recent years.

Future value to Saints

Elliss could be a really valuable player for New Orleans if they can hold onto him. Davis just turned 34 in January and his contract is set up for him to bow out in 2024 or 2025, unless he restructures again this offseason. Having a good linebacker who you’ve seen perform well as a starter on an affordable contract would be great. But Davis just made his first career Pro Bowl list and the Saints have invested a lot at the top of their depth chart between his contract and Werner’s status as a high draft pick. There may not be room in the budget for Elliss.

Stay or go?

Elliss probably leaves in free agency, but the Saints shouldn’t make that an easy decision for him. They could make him a competitive contract offer and shift things around defensively to get all three linebackers on the field together more often, but that’s a lot to do to accommodate one player who didn’t show much until his fourth year in the league. Instead, Elliss looks a lot like the other defenders New Orleans has drafted, developed, and let go of in free agency: guys like Vonn Bell, Sheldon Rankins, Trey Hendrickson, and Marcus Williams. It’s been an unfortunate trend for the Saints.

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Story originally appeared on Saints Wire