Final 53-man roster projections: Did Blake Grupe, Equanimeous St. Brown secure spots in preseason finale?

The Saints rested more than a dozen starters in Sunday’s preseason finale against the Titans. But the game couldn’t have been more crucial for another three dozen or so players on the roster bubble with the NFL’s cut down to 53 players looming on Tuesday.

Did Blake Grupe secure his job with a 54-yard field goal to cap off a perfect preseason performance? (Two of us think so.)

Who won the fifth receiver battle between A.T. Perry and Equanimeous St. Brown after they both flashed in the finale? (One of us picked Perry, one of us picked St. Brown -- and one of us picked both.)

Would Samson Nacua have made the roster if he gained just three more yards on his 106-yard missed-FG return before being run out of bounds before halftime? (We don't think so, but we sure would've loved to see it!)

Did Spencer Rattler vault ahead of Jake Haener in the QB battle with his most dazzling performance of the summer? (You can read more on that in Nick’s postgame story.)

Here’s a breakdown of those questions and more as Nick, Mike and Brandon make our final 53-man roster predictions:

QUARTERBACK

Nick: Derek Carr, Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler

Mike: Derek Carr, Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler

Brandon: Derek Carr, Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler

An easy choice for all three of us to keep all three of them.

Now, who will be designated as QB2 in Week 1 against the Panthers? That’s much tougher to decide – especially after Rattler dazzled on a pair of TD drives Sunday. We were all probably leaning toward Haener before this game because of his slight edge in experience and consistency. And Haener played well on Sunday too (he had a terrific TD pass to Perry nullified by a holding penalty).

But Rattler’s upside is impossible to ignore.

WIDE RECEIVER

Nick: Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson, Bub Means, A.T. Perry, Equanimeous St. Brown

Mike: Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson, Bub Means, A.T. Perry, Stanley Morgan

Brandon: Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson, Bub Means, Equanimeous St. Brown

Two of the toughest decisions on the entire roster here in Perry and St. Brown – especially after both of them had strong showings in Sunday’s preseason finale. Brown caught three passes for 40 yards, including a 21-yard TD from Rattler. Perry caught two passes for 67 yards and had the contested TD catch nullified by a holding penalty.

Mike is admittedly cheating a bit since St. Brown is a veteran who doesn’t have to clear waivers – which makes him a prime candidate to miss the initial 53-man roster and come back as a late-week activation from the practice squad.

Nick thinks the Saints might decide to keep Perry around to keep developing his talent, but he’s not sure how much they can count on him after such a sporadic and spotty summer. As Nick detailed in his breakdown of every pass thrown in camp, Perry only caught one real pass from Carr during full-team periods.

Meanwhile, Nick and Brandon both projected St. Brown onto their 53-man rosters even before Sunday’s game, with Brandon pointing to his ability to make contested catches.

Finally, Mike was the only one to choose Morgan – a decision based on his special-teams ability, choosing him over safety Will Harris among others. Nick also mentioned Morgan as a possibility because of special teams, but pointed out that he could be a practice squad elevation candidate as well.

We all left out Nacua, Mason Tipton and Kevin Austin out, among others. The battle for practice squad spots will be interesting here too.

RUNNING BACK

Nick: Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Jamaal Williams, Adam Prentice, Jordan Mims

Mike: Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Jamaal Williams, Adam Prentice, Jordan Mims

Brandon: Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Jamaal Williams, Adam Prentice, Jordan Mims

This would’ve been an absolute stunner five weeks ago. But we all left out Miller after he missed the entire preseason following a hamstring injury on the first day of training camp – and drew some blunt comments from Dennis Allen about his inability to stay out of the training room. Mike thinks the Saints will place Miller on injured reserve, which would give him more time to heal and try to make a better impression down the road.

Regardless, none of us reserved a spot on the initial 53-man roster for the second-year pro, who was drafted in the third round last year.

Nick said he’s not sure how to predict Miller makes the team when everything the coach keeps telling us is that he’s disappointed with the player. Nick does think it would make sense to continue developing Miller – and if they don’t, Nick thinks the Saints need to find an upgrade at running back.

We all kept Mims, however, with Brandon stressing how much he showed his versatility as a runner and short-yardage pass catcher. And Nick strongly considered Jacob Kibodi after his strong showing Sunday.

TIGHT END

Nick: Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau, Dallin Holker

Mike: Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau, Dallin Holker

Brandon: Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau, Dallin Holker

Easy choices by default here. Holker is an undrafted rookie who missed the final two games with an ankle injury. But they don’t really have any better options.

Michael Jacobson had a nice summer as the former basketball player continues to develop, but we all left him off the list even before he had a mess of a game in Sunday's finale (a dropped pass and three penalties).

OFFENSIVE LINE

Nick: Taliese Fuaga, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Trevor Penning, Landon Young, Kyle Hergel, Lucas Patrick, Oli Udoh, Shane Lemieux

Mike: Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Taliese Fuaga, Lucas Patrick, Trevor Penning, Oli Udoh, Landon Young, Kyle Hergel, Shane Lemieux

Brandon: Taliese Fuaga, Erik McCoy, Cesar Ruiz, Trevor Penning, Landon Young, Lucas Patrick, Kyle Hergel, Oli Udoh, Shane Lemieux

Once again, we all came up with the same nine names by default here since there simply aren’t enough attractive options to choose from. The Saints will absolutely take a hard look at the cut lists around the NFL to see if they can improve their depth here.

DEFENSIVE END

Nick: Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan, Chase Young, Payton Turner, Isaiah Foskey

Mike: Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan, Chase Young, Payton Turner, Isaiah Foskey

Brandon: Carl Granderson, Cameron Jordan, Chase Young, Payton Turner, Isaiah Foskey

We all had Foskey on our final roster projections even before Sunday’s game. But it probably didn’t hurt his case that he had a tackle-for-loss after failing to produce any impact plays in the first two preseason games.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

Nick: Bryan Bresee, Nathan Shepherd, Khristian Boyd

Mike: Bryan Bresee, Nathan Shepherd, Khristian Boyd, Khalen Saunders

Brandon: Bryan Bresee, Nathan Shepherd, Khristian Boyd, Khalen Saunders

Nick had Saunders as his last player on the roster before Sunday, when Saunders wasn’t spotted on the field before or during the game. He decided to take him off and add Perry after the game. (UPDATE: Allen said Saunders is dealing with a calf injury.)

Nick’s thinking was that this feels like a position where the team could save a roster spot by using Jordan and/or Turner at defensive tackle on passing downs – and Shepherd and Boyd can both play nose tackle. They can also cover it by keeping Kendall Vickers on the practice squad and elevating him. Saunders is too good to cut. But he also doesn’t really feel like someone who has a role here.

LINEBACKER

Nick: Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Willie Gay, Anfernee Orji, Khaleke Hudson, D’Marco Jackson

Mike: Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Willie Gay, Anfernee Orji, Khaleke Hudson, D’Marco Jackson

Brandon: Demario Davis, Pete Werner, Willie Gay, Anfernee Orji, Khaleke Hudson, D’Marco Jackson

Orji began the summer as a bit of a dark horse candidate, but he delivered time and time again in practices and games – including Sunday’s exclamation point. Hudson made the cut for each of us because of his added value on special teams. Jackson was a fairly easy choice himself for the same reason – but he did suffer a calf injury this week that leaves his status in doubt.

CORNERBACK

Nick: Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Shemar Jean-Charles

Mike: Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Shemar Jean-Charles

Brandon: Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Shemar Jean-Charles

Jean-Charles probably made the biggest leap of anyone on this roster from July 24 to August 25 – taking advantage of a ton of first-string snaps because of injuries to Lattimore, Adebo and McKinstry at different times.

Is his roster spot still secure when they’re all healthy? Probably, since depth is so important at that spot. Nick said he could fill the 2023 Isaac Yiadom role. But it is possible that he could lose out if the Saints fee like others are more critical on special teams.

SAFETY

Nick: Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Howden, Johnathan Abram, J.T. Gray, Will Harris

Mike: Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Howden, Johnathan Abram, J.T. Gray

Brandon: Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Howden, Johnathan Abram, J.T. Gray, Will Harris

As we mentioned above, Mike’s final choice was to choose receiver Morgan over Harris because of special teams. But Harris has both special teams value and defensive versatility, which could put him over the top.

We also left off versatile veteran Ugo Amadi. And Nick considered veteran Roderic Teamer because of special teams. So this spot is very fluid.

SPECIALISTS

Nick: K Blake Grupe, P Matthew Hayball, LS Zach Wood

Mike: K Blake Grupe, P Matthew Hayball, LS Zach Wood

Brandon: K Charlie Smyth, P Lou Hedley, LS Zach Wood

We may have saved the most dramatic for last here. Brandon picked Smyth to win the job in the spring – so how could he back off of that prediction now after Smyth has made such big strides during the summer (including his 65-yard field goal in practice on Tuesday night)?

Meanwhile, Mike had been wondering if the Saints might consider a veteran option from another team while they keep Smyth on the practice squad as a developmental option. But Grupe nailing all of his kicks on Sunday, including the 54-yarder, felt like a guy who cemented his job. And it seems notable that Grupe was the only one who even got the chance to attempt kicks in the game.

(UPDATE: Allen said Smyth was dealing with groin tightness -- but he did credit Grupe for making the most of his opportunities Sunday.)

Hedley-Hayball is much tougher to predict. We all like what we’ve seen from Hayball’s distance and ability to flip the field, and Hedley had a poor kick in the fourth quarter Sunday. But the Saints liked Hedley’s performance last year better than anyone outside the building did. And we’re not sure if either punter did enough to change that opinion this summer.