Saints: Tanoh Kpassagnon is an underrated player to watch in 2021
As the New Orleans Saints inch closer to training camp, fans are excited to see which players stand out. One player who hasn’t gotten much respect since the team signed him in free agency is Tanoh Kpassagnon.
The Saints were hit hard along their defensive line in the offseason, losing Trey Hendrickson to the Bengals and Sheldon Rankins to the Jets. While the Saints still have a solid group on their d-line, one guy not getting respect is Kpassagnon, who New Orleans signed early in the offseason.
Kpassagnon, a former second-round pick by the Chiefs in 2017, got off to a slow start in his career. He was looking like a really bad pick for Kansas City after his first two seasons were lackluster but turned things around in year three.
Over his last two seasons, Kpassagnon appeared in all 32 regular-season games racking up 57 tackles, 15 quarterback hits, five sacks, and five defended passes. The Chiefs would have loved to keep Kpassagnon as depth but the Saints stole him away and it’s a move that isn’t getting much credit from Saints fans.
Tanoh Kpassagnon is going to surprise New Orleans Saints fans.
As of now, the Saints’ starting defensive line will consist of Cameron Jordan, Shy Tuttle, and Marcus Davenport. The news of David Onyemata’s suspension is a crushing blow and this could be where Kpassagnon makes his presence known.
He’ll be competing with first-round rookie Peyton Turner and Malcolm Roach for snaps but Kpassagnon started 15 games for the Chiefs last year and is no strange to being a starting d-lineman in the NFL. The Saints were wise to bring him in and hopefully, he performs more like he did in 2019 and 2020 than he did in the first two years of his career.
New Orleans needs their defensive line to stay strong and they have a decent unit upfront. At the same time, however, losing Hendrickson and Rankins hurt badly and they won’t have Onyemata for six games. This is where Kpassagnon is going to prove to be worth the money in the offseason.
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Saints fans are sleeping on Kpassagnon but they won’t be for long. This guy is going to be a lot of fun to watch in New Orleans’ defense.