Saints D-Line is terrible

Optimus Prime said

All training camp all we heard was how dominant and disruptive the D-Line was

When he returned to practice we were told Chase Young was unblockable and Breese looked like he could be a top 10 DT

Cam was hurt last year and while he wasn't going to be what he was at his peak he was supposed to be miles better than last season

What happened?

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First, we have to consider who they were going up against in practice. It was the Saints offensive line group which consisted of a rookie playing left tackle for the first time in his life, a journeyman at left guard, an above average veteran at center, a below average veteran at right guard, and a bust to that point trying a new position at right tackle. It was a unit that was returning only 2 out of the 5 starters from 2023. Then there were the backup offensive linemen.

Most of the noise we heard in camp about Chase Young being unblockable was not when he was going up against Fuaga. Anyone else was just a turnstile. That should have been factored in and expectations tempered until the level of competition increased. The big test that could have been was the scheduled practice against the 49ers. SF cancelled because they had 23 players injured and not practicing at that time. Had they been healthy and scrimmaged the Saints that might have been a bigger tell early in the offseason, more so than what a preseason game shows.

The Saints defensive front just isn't disruptive. They can't shed blocks. The get stonewalled at the point of attack in the passing game and moved in the running game. They look slow. They get pressure on the QB at times but can't make the plays needed to get off of the field. About the only thing the Saints defense is doing very good at is Red Zone defense. If that collapses the entire dam will break. They have got to get better at stopping the run and on 3rd down.