New Orleans Saints: 2021 unit grades show clear defensive interior need

Coming into the 2021 offseason, it was obvious that the New Orleans Saints were going to have to make franchise-rocking moves. Thankfully, they were able to keep most of their high-impact players.

Michael Thomas, Ryan Ramczyk, Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Cam Jordan and many others will be back in the black and gold next season. Hopefully, that is enough to crown them NFC South champions once again.

The New Orleans Saints lost two key interior defensive lineman this offseason, and it shows in their unit-specific grades.

With the NFL draft coming up, it’s clear that the Saints do have multiple big-time needs. Two clear ones were caused by the releasing of Emmanuel Sanders and Janoris Jenkins, the team’s No. 2 wide receiver and cornerback.

However, there may be one even more important and that comes on the defensive line. While the team has Marcus Davenport and Cam Jordan on the edges, the interior line doesn’t have much notability to it.

ESPN’s Mike Clay looked at each team’s positional groups and gave them a score.

The worst score for New Orleans came on the defensive interior. There were only three teams with a worse grade at the position. The Saints strong unit was a tie between the offensive line and running back.

That said, defensive interior is something that should be addressed in the late-April draft. Right now, the Saints, per ESPN’s depth chart, will be starting Malcolm Roach and David Onyemata. Shy Tuttle and Christian Ringo are the two backups.

The Saints lost Sheldon Rankins and Malcom Brown, both of which were cap casualties in the sense that the Saints would’ve likely wanted to re-sign them if they had the space. Sadly, they didn’t, and now they’ll have to rebuild the line.

Christian Barmore is CBS Sports’ top-ranked prospect in the interior. He’s a projected first-round pick, so if he’s still on the board at No. 28, the Saints should take a long look at drafting him despite their other needs.

After Barmore and Levi Onwuzurike, the ranking doesn’t have another interior line prospect until the 72nd prospect. Not getting either of those could be a killer for the Saints and signal that they won’t be taking a high-potential lineman until the third round.

The position needs to be a focus for New Orleans. Don’t be surprised if they target a lineman early in the draft after a hectic offseason left them shorthanded.