Saints lose another interior defensive lineman to free agency

The hits just keep on coming for the New Orleans Saints in free agency. It looks like the Saints will be without yet another defensive tackle in 2023.

Games in all levels of football, not just the NFL, are won and lost in the trenches. The New Orleans Saints certainly know this from their most successful periods in franchise history. Sure, they had Drew Brees, but those Saints teams also had excellent offensive and defensive lines. It now appers that the defenisve line of the Saints will look signifcantly different from 2022 to 2023.

Of course, it isn't like this is something we didn't already know, but the old saying goes "when it rains it pours", and perhaps the monsoon was a little unexpected. A plethora of players along the Saints defensive front have departed in free agency, with one more just being announced.

Now, it is a fact that Kentavius Street wasn't a starter in New Orleans, but he did record 3.5 sacks during his lone season in the Big Easy, which was his career high. Stats wise, he actually has been steadily improving with last year being his best.

The reigning, defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles brought in a rotational defensive tackle capable of getting to the quarterback for cheap that perhaps the Saints could have used for their own depth purposes. Alas, here we are and there isn't time to dwell on it with the Draft right around the corner. Spilled milk and such.

Speaking of the Draft, this further exacerbates the point that the New Orleans Saints need to focus on their offensive and defensive lines the remainder of this offseason. With so many new pieces in the trenches, they are going to need time to gel, and it's better to know who's who ahead of time. Fortuantely, the landscape of the division is in dire-straits, but that doesn't mean there isn't still work to be done up front.