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Keenan Lewis? Injured and cut before the season.
P.J. Williams? Injured and placed on IR.
Damian Swann? Injured and placed on IR.
Ken Crawley? Injured and placed on IR.
Delvin Breaux? Injured and missed 10 games.
Sterling Moore? Injured and miss 4 games.
At the end of the 2016 regular season, the two healthiest Cornerbacks on the Saints roster not named “B.W. Webb” were Sterling Moore, who had only started 19 games in his entire 5-year NFL career, and Delvin Breaux, who literally broke his neck in college, with both players missing games due to injury along the way. Breaux returns under contract for 2017, and the Saints were able to re-sign Sterling Moore on a one-year deal.
The Saints tried to address the quality and depth at Cornerback by trading for Malcolm Butler of the New England Patriots, but the two teams couldn’t work out an agreeable trade. Instead, the Saints spent the 11th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft on talented Cornerback Marshon Lattimore out of Ohio State who just recently inked his Rookie Contract deal with the team.
So here’s why they’re better in 2017:
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The improvements to the Saints group of Cornerbacks starts and ends with Marshon Lattimore.
Lattimore is 6’0 and 193 lbs, but could still add muscle to his frame as he gets older. If Lattimore does indeed bulk up a bit, hopefully it doesn’t slow down his lightning speed, as he posted a 4.36 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine. One of the biggest knocks on Malcolm Butler was his lack of elite speed to keep up with the top WRs in the NFL. Lattimore, also two inches taller than Butler, should be able to problem making a play on the ball against the WRs in the NFC South like Julio Jones, Mike Evans, and Kelvin Benjamin.
Delvin Breaux, who plays a little more physically than Lattimore, will make a solid tandem with the rookie, and Sterling Moore will make an incredibly underrated slot corner. Not to mention, the Saints still think the word of the potential in young Cornerbacks like P.J. Williams and Damian Swann and UDFA Arthur Maulet, the Saints look primed to rely heavily on their group of young, talented Corners.