The Saints offseason plans of retaining the “Juice Boyzz” has not gone the way we thought it would. First the Saints lost star safety Marcus Williams to the Baltimore Ravens and now the team has lost veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins to retirement.
Jenkins has always been a solid good player for the Saints and one of the teams core leaders during his time in New Orleans. But now the Saints find themselves having a big hole to fill. The Saints had a plan ready for the departure of Marcus Williams, but with the surprise retirement of Jenkins how do they approach the hole at safety?
As we’ve seen in the past the Saints have always had a plan B whenever one of their star safeties left. When Jenkins left the first time the team signed Jarius Byrd. When Jarius Byrd left they drafted Vonn Bell in 2016 and then Marcus Williams in 2017. When Vonn Bell left they signed Malcolm Jenkins. Marcus Williams left and they signed Marcus Maye.
Now though, with a surprise retirement the Saints probably don’t have a plan to replace Jenkins. However, the Saints have options and luckily for them, safety is a position that the team scouts and fills in pretty well.
The advantage the Saints have after signing Marcus Maye is huge. His versatility to play both strong and free safety allows the Saints front office to essentially scout and add whoever they want at safety. If they want to add a free safety, they move Marcus Maye to where Malcolm Jenkins played. If they want to add a strong safety then Marcus Maye stays at his primary role at free safety.
For the past two seasons the Saints safeties have been limited to a position that they’re excellent at. Marcus played deep and never in the box and Malcolm was the guy in the box who covers tight ends as well. What the Saints are looking for now at safety however is a guy to play in the box. The Saints don’t want another position to address in the draft with wide receiver and offensive line already a need. A safety could be drafted for either depth or development for down the line so possibly the third round. In terms of finding a starting replacement though, I think free agency is the way to go.
I believe that there are two strong options with one decent option. The priority for the Saints should be to re-sign P.J. Williams. He has versatility to play anywhere and is coming off a career season. Williams would be able to rotate with Maye at safety and that would allow the team to show a lot of defensive packages and disguises. If the Saints do bring back P.J. I think the Saints do draft a safety in round three or four unless they sign another free agent safety. The Saints like having rotational players for different looks, so adding another safety is a necessity.
The second guy who the Saints should target is Tyrann Mathieu. A Louisiana native, who is currently in Louisiana, should be on the Saints radar. His recent twitter activity would suggest that he wants to play for the Saints, so the ball is in the Saints court. They had interest in him early on in free agency, but his style of play wouldn’t have fit in unless Jenkins was gone.
Tyrann has the ability to play strong safety and nickel, but he isn’t someone you want playing free safety. He has less range than P.J. Williams and Marcus Maye so he’d strictly be playing a similar role to Malcolm Jenkins and P.J. Williams from the past two seasons. His play at strong safety and leadership would be a perfect replacement for Malcolm Jenkins.
The final option who I’ve been told the Saints have done some homework on is Kareem Jackson. A veteran safety who mainly plays strong safety. He’d fit in well but you wouldn’t want him starting the whole time. He’d probably be rotated with a rookie or another guy they sign. He possibly becomes a guy the teams signs for depth.
Chauncey could possibly play safety, but he’s so lethal in the nickel it wouldn’t make sense to essentially have him restart at this point of his career. His role at nickel is a great fit for him.
The Saints need to add two new safeties to fit the scheme they play. I don’t think Tyrann and P.J. end up on the same team. I think the team drafts a guy around the third round to develop and take over in the future. Whoever they sign will likely be accompanied by a rookie this upcoming season.
Now with these loses the defense will look a lot different in terms of chemistry and scheme. It wouldn’t be surprising if coverages get blown early on due to the lack of chemistry. Having a complete restart at safety will cause some unlikely mistakes that we aren’t used to seeing. Not to mention that Maye will probably miss some time due to a DUI, so the chemistry will still be rocky. I would expect the team to play more two high safety rather than one man safety.
This situation is one that we won’t have answered till after the draft. It’s a waiting game. Stay patient, the Saints are doing work behind the scenes.
