Marshon Lattimore is the only easy choice as we rank Saints’ top 20 players

Ranking the top players on the 2023 Saints’ roster is a more difficult exercise than ever before since they have such a stark mix of proven stars now in their 30s and young rising players who haven’t reached their peaks yet.

As a result, Nick and I had the same top nine players — but placed them in very different orders (outside of a unanimous No. 1).

Stay tuned for our three-part series on the studio show where Brooke, Nick and I break down our full top-20 choices. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek at the entire lists for our subscribers. As a bonus, we did the math to create our consensus top-22.

No. 21 (tie)

DT BRYAN BRESEE (Nick 20th)

CB BRADLEY ROBY (Mike 20th)

Right off the bat, you’re getting a feel for how Nick and I approached these lists from slightly different angles. Nick went with a first-round pick who hasn’t played a snap in the NFL. I went with a 10th-year veteran who hasn’t been a full-time player since he joined the Saints in 2021.

You’ll notice throughout these rankings there is some wiggle room when it comes to the word “current.” Nick’s list is a bit more predictive of what he expects players to contribute throughout the 2023 season. My list leans a little more heavily on where the players stand at this very moment — with a tad more credit toward past performance.

Regardless, both of these players are in a similar category when it comes to their roles. Neither is expected to be an every-down player. But Nick likes the net positive effect Bresee could have on the entire defensive line as a disruptive pass rusher and run defender at a position of huge need. And I like the way Roby has embraced the nickel-back role — which is similar to the versatile role he had with the Broncos early in his career when he played some of his best football under new Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods.

No. 20

S J.T. GRAY (Nick 19th)

Gray just missed my top 20 but absolutely deserves this recognition because he’s among the best in the NFL at what he does on special teams. Gray was a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in 2021 and a second-team All-Pro in 2019. He has been an eraser as a gunner, and Nick also likes how he has continued to develop as a useful backup safety.

Our SUPER early 53-man roster predictions✍️: https://t.co/zYWXjhOmeb pic.twitter.com/y8HxEUv58V— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 22, 2023

No. 19

QB JAMEIS WINSTON (Mike 15th)

A controversial choice since Nick pointed out on the show that Winston, “should have zeroes across the board if everything goes right this year,” and the Saints made such an aggressive effort to replace him with Derek Carr. Meanwhile, I was trying to assign the right grade to Winston regardless of his projected role — like building a draft board before needs are factored in.

Either way, Winston might be the most impossible player on this entire list to grade based on the roller coaster his career has been riding for the past four years. From the heights of 5,109 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes (along with 30 interceptions) in his final year with the Buccaneers in 2019 and his career-best 102.8 passer rating through seven starts with the Saints before tearing his ACL in 2021, to the lows of his knee, back and foot injuries over the past two years — and losing his starting job in both Tampa and New Orleans.

No. 18

G CESAR RUIZ (Nick 18th, Mike 19th)

Another roller-coaster guy here, the former first-round pick finally started to deliver on his potential in Year 3 in 2022. But then he suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in December that required surgery, and now he remains in “prove-it” mode heading into Year 4. Per Nick’s film study, Ruiz allowed only 16 pressures last season, less than half of his 2021 total. Ruiz is heading into a contract year, but if he picks up where he left off, the Saints will likely want to re-invest in him.

No. 17

S ALONTAE TAYLOR (Nick 17th, Mike 18th)

Obviously the second-year pro needs to lock down a starting job in his battle with Paulson Adebo (or potentially transition into the nickel role ahead of Roby). But it’s impossible not to like the potential he flashed as a second-round pick in 2022, consistently holding up against the deep ball and bringing an energy to the field that coach Dennis Allen raves about. Nick also stressed the thing he likes most about Taylor is how openly he has recognized the things he needs to improve, pointing out the times when he was too aggressive last year.

Alontae Taylor talks about the Saints secondary, how he will improve during his second season and why he thinks the team has Super Bowl potential📺: https://t.co/vHUmaZmfXI pic.twitter.com/vvyaB3Ze0E— NOF (@nofnetwork) May 30, 2023

No. 14 (tie)

WR RASHID SHAHEED (Nick 13th, Mike 17th)

TE JUWAN JOHNSON (Mike 14th, Nick 16th)

S MARCUS MAYE (Nick 14th, Mike 16th)

I admittedly might be too low on Shaheed, since he is one of the young players that gives me the most optimism about New Orleans’ chances to revive the offense. Sure, he is an undrafted player with 28 career catches, but he has the chance to be a game-changer with a single catch, kickoff return or end-around run. And he proved that he is more than just a gadget player last year by expanding his role and route tree with each passing month. He caught 22 passes on 26 targets for 377 yards over the final six games, which would put him on pace for 1,068 receiving yards over a full season.

We’re also high on Johnson’s potential to keep breaking out as a go-to guy for the Saints after catching 42 passes for 508 yards and seven scores last year. No, we don’t think his TD ratio is sustainable (11 TDs on 55 catches over the past two seasons), but we all think he can continue to develop as a blocker, refined route runner and contested catch-maker. Johnson talked this offseason about how he has studied guys like former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, who was a master of the types of choice routes that Carr loves.

Maye is on a different end of the spectrum as a 30-year-old whose production dropped off last season after he recovered from a 2021 Achilles injury. However, Nick said he also sees him as a player whose arrow is pointing up now that he is fully healthy and heading into his second year in the Saints’ defense and his partnership with safety Tyrann Mathieu. Maye had his best season the last time he was fully healthy (88 tackles, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and 11 pass defenses with the Jets in 2020).

No. 13

RB JAMAAL WILLIAMS (Mike 13th, Nick 15th)

Is this ranking too low for a player who led the NFL with 17 rushing TDs and ran for 1,066 yards with the Lions last season? Or is it too high for a player whose role is uncertain in a crowded backfield that also includes Alvin Kamara, rookie Kendre Miller and short-yardage specialist Taysom Hill? It’s probably just right for a player who routinely averaged around 750 yards from scrimmage and scored 3-6 touchdowns per year in his first five seasons with the Packers and Lions. His role will be even bigger if Kamara misses time with a suspension.

No. 12

FOOTBALL PLAYER TAYSOM HILL (Mike 12th, Nick 12th)

It’s ironic that this is one of only three players on the entire list Nick and I agreed on, since Hill might be the No. 1 player in the entire NFL that nobody can figure out how to evaluate — including the Saints. As Nick said, Hill might be the most massively overpaid and massively underrated player in the league at the same time. It’s hard to envision the Saints increasing Hill’s role this year since they’ve added so much depth at both quarterback and running back. But we agree he was criminally underused while the offense fell flat over the past two seasons. The Saints came closer last year, giving Hill a career-high 96 carries. And he responded with a career-best 6.0 yards per carry and seven rushing TDs.

No. 10 (tie)

C ERIK MCCOY (Nick 10th, Mike 11th)

LB PETE WERNER (Mike 10th, Nick 11th)

A pair of former second-round picks. McCoy has developed into a reliable veteran over the past four years, earning a contract extension last fall. And as Brooke and I both stressed, his value was never noticed more than the games he missed (at Carolina in 2021, at Pittsburgh in 2022 … yikes!) Nick thinks McCoy’s best work was earlier in his career with Drew Brees behind center — but with Carr now expected to call his own signals at the line, that should free up McCoy to play even better.

Werner was downright dominant over the first eight games last season with 71 tackles, two forced fumbles and three pass defenses (on pace for 151 tackles). Then his progress was stalled by ankle and hamstring injuries, so we couldn’t rank him higher than the other veterans battling injury issues. Werner also needs a few more impact plays on his ledger (zero career sacks or interceptions). Still, we all expect the third-year pro to climb these rankings by season’s end.

Saints counting on continued breakout from linebacker Pete Werner✍️: https://t.co/62iJqWDSRH pic.twitter.com/0ElgNfIYm1— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 14, 2023

No. 9

S TYRANN MATHIEU (Mike 7th, Nick 7th)

Wait, how does that work? We both ranked Mathieu seventh, and he finishes ninth on our combined list?! Well, that’s because everyone else made it into at least one of our top fives.

Regardless, we have clearly entered a new tier here that is heavy on players who have reached an All-Pro peak. And nobody’s peak was higher than the Honey Badger, who was a first-team All-Pro three times with the Cardinals and Chiefs and has 29 career interceptions (including a team-high three in his first year with the Saints in 2022). Mathieu just turned 31 and still has room to keep thriving for his hometown team, especially now that so many members of this secondary are in their second year together.

No. 6 (tie)

LB DEMARIO DAVIS (Mike 4th, Nick 9th)

RB ALVIN KAMARA (Mike 5th, Nick 8th)

WR MIKE THOMAS (Nick 5th, Mike 8th)

This is one hell of a trio. Each could have made a strong case for No. 1 in years past. But the difficult part is projecting where each will be in 2023. Davis, 34, should theoretically fall off at some point. Nick’s ranking reflects that some of that has started to show on tape when it comes to his ability to cover the entire field at an elite level. However, I like how Davis made up for any pass-coverage shortcomings by being even more effective as a blitzer with a career-high 6.5 sacks last year to go with his usual 100-plus tackles. No one doubts how much he means to the team from a leadership standpoint.

Kamara’s productivity has dropped off substantially over the past two seasons (a career-low 92.5 yards from scrimmage per game last year; career lows in yards per carry, rushing TDs and receptions over the past two years). He also is about to turn 28, and his role should decrease a bit because of the possible suspension and RB timeshare. Still, we all agree the Saints’ offensive line injuries, play-calling struggles and lack of RB depth have each contributed to Kamara’s dropoff over the past two years. He should be more effective in smaller doses if they can fix those elements this year. I still chose him as my midseason MVP last year after he scored three times in a Week 8 win over the Raiders.

Last but not least in this group is Thomas, who really belongs in a tier of his own. The last time he was fully healthy, he set the NFL record with 149 catches for 1,725 yards and nine TDs in 2019. And as I pointed out, even though he has been plagued by ankle and toe injuries over the past three years, he still has 51 catches for 587 yards and four TDs over his last nine games played — with Hill starting four of them at QB, Brees starting two and Winston three. That’s a pace of 96 catches, 1,109 yards and 7.5 TDs over a full season. I moved him up my rankings after seeing such positive signs in OTAs and minicamp. But Thomas is now 30, and it’s obviously impossible to know what to expect from a health standpoint.

Did a little study of throw charts and target charts to see how Mike Thomas, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed will blend together and help Derek Carr paint the whole field.https://t.co/UEUBN0ehxX— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) June 26, 2023

No. 5

RT RYAN RAMCZYK (Nick 2nd, Mike 9th)

An even bigger disparity here, but a similar story to that previous group. When healthy, the former first-round pick has been elite. A first-team All-Pro in 2019, a second-teamer in 2018 and 2020, Ramczyk became the highest-paid right tackle in the NFL in 2021 at nearly $20 million per year. But then he missed seven games with injury in that 2021 season, and he has clearly battled a knee issue that limited him in practice every week even though he played 16 games last year. The 29-year-old may never be healthy enough to regain peak form. But Nick believes he is probably still the second-most talented player on the team after giving up only three sacks last year. And he believes Ramczyk’s value will stand out even more with a quarterback whose dropbacks are consistent and predictable.

No. 3 (tie)

QB DEREK CARR (Mike 3rd, Nick 6th)

WR CHRIS OLAVE (Nick 3rd, Mike 6th)

Two more consistent themes emerging here. Once again, I’m giving a quarterback-value bonus like I did with Winston. And once again, Nick is projecting forward with Olave, who certainly looks like New Orleans’ next elite breakout player. But we all agree on our vision for both and their ability to revive this offense.

Carr is obviously at a career crossroads at age 32 after the Raiders decided to move on from him following a disappointing season under new coach Josh McDaniels. But the Saints see him as a perfect fit for their offense after he produced his best years in a similar scheme under former Raiders coach Jon Gruden from 2018-2021 (a career-high 4,804 yards in 2021, career-high passer ratings of 101.4 and 100.8 in 2020 and 2019, career-high completion percentages of 70.4, 68.9, 68.4 and 67.3 in 2019, 2018, 2021 and 2020).

Olave, on the flip side, is the most ascending player on this entire list after flirting with the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor while catching 72 passes for 1,042 yards and four TDs in just 15 games as a first-round pick in 2022. He was arguably the MVP of this year’s OTAs and minicamp while routinely flashing the ability to win the battle for contested catches and high-point the ball down the field — the exact thing he and Saints coaches stressed he needed to improve most. Olave hit a bit of a rookie wall down the stretch last year, with 65 yards or less in his final five games and just one TD over that span. But he hasn’t come close to hitting his ceiling.

Saints notes and observations- Chris Olave is having a monster summer- Alvin Kamara used in great way- Payton Turner flashes- Derek Carr has a great day- Andrus Peat at a surprising position✍️: https://t.co/yz2lfLsBp2 pic.twitter.com/NlYNpirzrS— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 15, 2023

No. 2

DE CAMERON JORDAN (Mike 2nd, Nick 4th)

Jordan probably belongs in the same group with Ramczyk, Davis, Thomas, Kamara and Mathieu since he is about to turn 34 and should be heading toward an inevitable decline. But he got extra credit from both of us because it hasn’t happened yet. Jordan has played in 16 games for a remarkable 12 straight seasons — with the only two absences coming over the past two years because of COVID and an eye gouge. Yes, his production and playing time have started to drop off from the peak of his first-team All-Pro season in 2017 and second-team All-Pro seasons in 2018 and 2019 when he registered 13, 12 and 15.5 sacks. But I still named him my 2022 season MVP last year because of his consistent impact and the way he stepped up most in some of their biggest wins (three sacks and a forced fumble at Philadelphia, two sacks vs. Seattle).

No. 1

CB MARSHON LATTIMORE (Mike 1st, Nick 1st)

Finally, an easy choice, Lattimore checks every box. He’s among the best at his position throughout the entire NFL. He’s still in his prime, having just turned 27. He’s immensely important to the team at one of the most important positions on the field. And while he also battled injuries last year (missing 10 games with a lacerated kidney and broken ribs), he didn’t miss a beat when he returned – snagging a pick-six in Week 17 at Philly.

Which former Saints player from the Payton era (excluding Drew Brees) would you add to help the Saints in 2023? pic.twitter.com/1vyBgDfpPF— NOF (@nofnetwork) June 28, 2023