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On Friday, Football Outsiders released their list of the most underrated players on each NFL roster behind ESPN Insider’s paywall. These are players they think should be better known and/or given more credit for their teams' success, based on their advanced metrics of course.
For the Saints, they chose defensive end Cam Jordan. This is what they had to say about their selection...
Our play-by-play database goes back to 1989, and in that time frame, last season's Saints were the worst defense we've ever measured. That makes it easy to overlook Jordan, whose pass-rush efforts were too often negated by terrible coverage behind him. Jordan ranked in the top 10 in both sacks (10.0) and hurries (32.5), while also chipping in 11 quarterback hits and five tipped passes.
All of that seems pretty reasonable. But we’ve got a problem. Because back in May, Bleacher Report came out with their list of underrated players for each team and for the Saints, it wasn’t Cam Jordan.
Instead, they chose Delvin Breaux and said this about him...
It’s tough to find a bright spot on a defensive unit that was ranked next-to-last in the league in total defense while surrendering an NFL-record 45 touchdown passes in a single season.
But Breaux managed to escape 2015 unscathed and was a top-10 performer in the league at his position in terms of pass coverage. He led the Saints with three interceptions and 19 passes defensed.
Drama! There can be only one underrated players on the Saints, so who are we to believe? Is it Jordan? Is it Breaux? Is it someone else entirely? Share your thoughts.