The Saints aren't expected to be major players in free agency because of their lack of salary-cap space. But they won't sit on their hands either - especially while they're aiming to revamp their defense under new coordinator Rob Ryan and a new 3-4 system.
Last year, for example, the Saints surprisingly landed four high-priced free agents in Ben Grubbs, Curtis Lofton, Brodrick Bunkley and David Hawthorne -- back-loading all of their contracts to make them cap-friendly in the first year. Grubbs' salary-cap number was just $2.7 million last season, and the others were all $1.7 million or below.
I picked the brains of a handful of NFL analysts to put together a list of available defensive players that might be good fits in New Orleans as the Saints make the transition to the 3-4.
Here is a position-by-position primer, ranked in order of need: