4 of the best things we saw from the NOLA Saints 2021 season

Rookies Came to Play

The Saints’ 2020 draft class left little to be desired so it was important for their 2021 rookies to step up and fill that void. They did exactly that.

First-round pick Payton Turner was a disappointment, only appearing in just five games over the course of his rookie season. The two players taken after him, however, showed a lot of potential and made the defense stronger.

Pete Werner was taken in the second round and ended up leapfrogging Zack Baun on the depth chart. Werner, Kwon Alexander, and Demario Davis were a tremendous trio at the linebacker position and the Buckeye rookie finished his season with 62 tackles (four for loss). He had three games where he posted double-digit tackles.

Third-round pick Paulson Adebo was thrown to the wolves from the start due to the sudden retirement of Patrick Robinson and the injury to Ken Crawley. He didn’t disappoint, immediately recording an interception in his first-ever NFL game. His first pick was off of Aaron Rodgers too, which is damn impressive considering how few picks Rodgers throws.

Seeing Werner and Adebo come in and make an immediate impact as rookies was a great sign for the future. Hopefully, Turner can come back stronger next year and this draft class will make up for how terrible the 2020 draft class has been.