PFF names veteran defender most underrated Saints player ahead of 2025 season
PFF names veteran defender most underrated Saints player ahead of 2025 season
What does it mean to be underrated? To not earn postseason honors like Pro Bowls and All-Pro votes? To not rank among the top earners at your position? Or to not be featured in many highlight reels? What about being drafted in the later rounds, or not at all? Maybe some combination of those factors, depending on who you ask.
Pro Football Focus analyst Jonathon Macri made the case for Carl Granderson to be recognized as the New Orleans Saints' most underrated player, writing:
Granderson's teammate Cameron Jordan has long been a poster boy for the league's most underrated players, but with Jordan reaching the end of his career, Granderson has taken over that lead edge defender role and is potentially an underrated player in his own right.
Over the past two regular seasons, Granderson has delivered 119 quarterback pressures — the 16th most among all players at his position. He not only adds much-needed pass-rush upside, but his 80.7 PFF run-defense grade since 2022 ranks tied for 12th at the position.
Granderson has become an important player for the Saints, even if his sacks totals won't wow you. He's steady in run defense and consistently pressures the quarterback off the edge. With Brandon Staley's new 3-4 base defense opening up new opportunities for him to line up further out wide from the rest of the formation, maybe Granderson can take a step forward and better establish himself on the national radar.
The Saints need more guys like him to make an impact. Granderson is hitting his athletic prime at 28 years old and, as Macri alluded to, has positioned himself to inherit Jordan's spot as an every-down defender who could take point on the defensive line in the years ahead. Their teammate Chase Young may be more suited to the task, but he needs to prove he can stay healthy enough to do it. And to Macri's point -- Young's status as a former second overall draft pick doesn't quite meet the "underrated" qualification, compared to Granderson as a former rookie free agent.
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