3 potential Marcus Williams replacements for New Orleans Saints

2. Marcus Maye

The only free agent option here is Marcus Maye, who has spent his entire five-year career with the Jets. Maye looked like the next big thing at safety a year ago and it’s not hard to see why.

The former Florida Gator appeared in all 16 games in both 2019 and 2020 and put up nice numbers, highlighted by his 88 tackles in the 2020 season. Unfortunately for Maye, after signing the franchise tag that was worth $10 million last offseason (which is what Williams did as well), the safety was only able to appear in six games due to an injury.

That’s tanked Maye’s value entering the 2022 offseason, as Spotrac projects him to earn a one-year deal worth $7 million. That’s a contract the Saints can afford!

Maye might be coming off of an injury but a year ago, he was looked at as one of the top safeties in the league. That right there is a reason to sign him to a “prove it” deal. If the Saints can’t retain Williams, Maye is someone who could really thrive with this defense and he’d be a bargain free-agent signing for this team.