Saints Defense

It can be a real challenge to stay up to date with all the changes on a particular NFL teams’ defense. Key losses or gains because of contract changes, trade or injury can create a dramatic effect to a defense’s success and thus their fantasy value for your fantasy football team. Stay up to date with the note worthy changes right here with personalized fantasy pages for each NFL defense.

Welcome to the Saints team defense fantasy football outlook archive. At this section of their player page you will notice our past thoughts and advice for fantasy football.

Summer of 2012: Fantasy Projections

What a nightmare of an offseason the Saints have had, and only time will tell how the ripple effect will impact the regular season. Initially, I liked the signing of Steve Spagnuolo as his defenses have a track record of consistent pressure from the front line.

Even in St. Louis, the one thing you could count on is pressure from players like Chris Long, James Hall and Robert Quinn.

However Spagnuolo is likely going to have to find a way to pressure the quarterback without (likely four games) his top pass rusher Will Smith, because of the bounty scandal.

On the positive side, I love the additions of David Hawthorne and Curtis Lofton in the linebacking corps. Both are solid veterans, in the prime of their careers, so this is an upgrade even tough they lost aging Jonathan Vilma.

While the Saints will remain a playoff caliber team, stay away from this defense on draft day.

Summer of 2011: Fantasy Projections

Watch-out for the Saints defense as they’ve done a good job of retaining the talent who made their secondary one of the top groups against the pass. The addition of Shaun Rogers was a respectable one to go with Sedrick Ellis, but their signing of former 49ers nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin (big reason for their success against the run in recent years, dumb loss on their part) should take this defense to another level.Now a force against the pass and the run, this is clearly a top ten defense once again, and they could creep into our top five team defensive rankings, in the coming weeks. Point is the Saints are going to be one of the best teams in the league, and they love to create plays on defense. If you miss out on the Eagles or Packers on draft day, this is a nice group to add on your team.

	Sacks	Int’s	Fumbles	Avg PA
2011 Projected Stats	45	22	20	18.8

June 2011

If you were hoping the Saints would come close to their 2009 numbers last year, you were bound for disappointment. Sure, the Saints still had a high forced fumble rate but their interception total dropped from 26 to 9 last season. Still, the Saints were a decent defense overall as the allowed just over nineteen points a game, throughout the season. Look to the Saints defense as one of the final starting squad worth considering in twelve team leagues this summer.

2010 Preview

The Saints didn’t have the greatest defense in terms of yardage given up or points, but they were the best at creating turnovers. With nine touchdowns on defense and special teams combine the Saints had one of those years to don’t see very often. Look for their defense to decline in this area, especially if they don’t sign free agent safety Darren Sharper.

2010 Fantasy Football Outlook

2009 Fantasy Year In Review: The Saints didn’t have the greatest defense when it came to total yards and points given up. For the season, this defense finished 20th overall or lower in points allowed, vs the run and vs the pass.

Still, this group was probably the best at turnovers and was the unquestioned top dog in touchdowns. With 41 turnovers and nine touchdowns on the year, fantasy owners were quickly picking this team up after the first month of 2009 and riding their hot start.

Audio: Saints Team Defense | 2010 NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings

2010 NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings: Look for the Saints’ defense to backslide in 2010, as I can’t remember a defense like this posting two consecutive years of six or more total touchdowns. Last year was a great ride, and it ended with this team winning the Super Bowl. Coordinator Greg Williams does a solid job of finding weaknesses in the opponents’ offense and his players do very good at exploiting them.

Still, Darren Sharper has a bad knee and won’t cover the ground he did last year in the secondary. His key decline is a killer for this team when it comes to turnovers because he is a master at doing just that. The Saints’ defense will probably be selected on draft day but you shouldn’t be the one going for them, unless they are the second group for your team.

Assets

- Turnovers

- Touchdowns

- Great At Home

Liabilities

- Not Statistically Strong

- Darren Sharper Is Recovering From A Bad Knee Problem