The New Orleans Saints don’t have a lot of money to go around so it will be tough to use free agency as a tool to greatly improve the roster.
One thing that will be easier for the Saints will be the upcoming National Football League Draft. The Saints have the No. 9 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Will they go offense or defense?
There’s an argument for both, but CBS Sports’ Kyle Stackpole predicted they will go defense and replace Chase Young with defensive lineman Shemar Stewart.
“Cameron Jordan turns 36 years old in July and Chase Young is set to hit free agency; that’s basically all you need to know about which direction the Saints should go in the NFL Draft,” Stackpole said, “Full transparency: I initially had Marshall’s Mike Green here, but then Shemar Stewart absolutely destroyed the NFL combine.
“He had very similar height, weight, wingspan, vertical jump and broad jump numbers to Myles Garrett coming out of Texas A&M; the only issue is that Garrett had 32.5 sacks in college and Stewart only had 4.5. Even with Stewart’s lack of production, the Saints bet on his tremendous upside.”
Stewart is 21 years old and is ranked as the No. 20 overall prospect by ESPN. He’s one of the best edge rushers in this draft class and is ranked as the fourth-best one by ESPN. The Saints certainly could use a boost on defense with Chase Young heading to free agency. He was great in 2024, but he will be expensive in free agency. He had a $13 million deal and is in line for more.