3 Saints veterans who could get cut this summer

1. Ken Crawley

Brian Poole’s no Xavien Howard or Stephon Gilmore, but he could be the reason Ken Crawley gets cut before the end of offseason.

Crawley has appeared in 49 regular season games since 2016, with all but four of them with New Orleans. This year, he joins Marshon Lattimore and Patrick Robinson in the “seasoned” cornerback camp, but Crawley played more snaps on special teams (56) rather than on defense (11) in 2020.

Of the older corners, Crawley is the most expendable, and the Saints bringing on Brian Poole makes him borderline obsolete.

Last year, Crawley actually earned the third-highest defensive grade on the team from PFF (behind David Onyemata and Cam Jordan), but if there’s one thing you learned from high school statistics, it’s sample size. Remember Crawley only played 11 snaps, and one resulted in an interception.

Now, if Crawley played more snaps and recorded more interceptions, that would be a different story. But with Stanford ballhawk Paulson Adebo potentially closing in on a starting spot and youngsters Keith Washington and Grant Haley learning more every day, Crawley may be on his way out.

Going into 2021, he doesn’t offer a huge amount of insurance or value (like Robinson, he continually struggled with lapses in coverage). Crawley had his chances, but it’s time New Orleans gave someone else a shot.