If it wasn’t clear before Monday afternoon that the New Orleans Saints defensive line was going to look a lot different in 2023, it is now.
On the first day of the NFL’s legal negotiating window, two longtime Saints defensive tackles agreed to rich contracts to play with division rivals: David Onyemata followed former Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen to Atlanta, and Shy Tuttle agreed to terms with his home-state Carolina Panthers.
Their departures should bring into sharp focus what was already considered a pressing need for the Saints this offseason. Onyemata and Tuttle started a combined 57 games at defensive tackle for the Saints the last two seasons. The Saints currently have one interior defensive lineman under contract in Prince Emili, and he has not yet played a snap in a Saints uniform.
Both Onyemata and Tuttle commanded contracts the Saints weren’t likely to match.
Onyemanta, whom the Saints originally drafted in the fourth round in 2016, agreed to a three-year deal with the Falcons that will pay him $35 million over the course of the deal with $24.5 million guaranteed.
By signing elsewhere, Onyemata also accelerated the void years in his contract with the Saints onto the 2023 salary cap. New Orleans will have to account for Onyemata’s $10.2 dead cap charge once the signing becomes official.
Onyemata had been a stalwart along the Saints defensive front for several seasons, starting every game he’d appeared in since taking over as a full-time starter in 2019. He recorded 23 sacks in his seven seasons with the Saints, including five last year.
Though Onyemata rarely missed time because of injury, his play fell off a bit in recent years. New Orleans would have liked to have him back, but not at the nearly $12 million annual price tag.
His partner on the Saints’ starting defensive line also received a significant pay raise. Tuttle first came to the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Tennessee, and prior to Monday had made approximately $4.5 million in his first four professional seasons.
Tuttle’s new contract with the Panthers will pay him $13 million in guarantees, more than tripling his previous career earnings with New Orleans. If he plays out the full contract, Tuttle will earn $19.5 million from Carolina.
While Onyemata is going to Atlanta to play with Nielsen, whom the Falcons hired away from the Saints to be their defensive coordinator this off-season, Tuttle is going to play close to home.
Tuttle played his high school football at Davidson North, which is about an hour drive away from the Panthers’ home stadium.
He made the Saints’ 2019 roster as an undrafted rookie, earning regular playing time as part of the Saints’ defensive line rotation. By the 2021 season, Tuttle had secured a starting role, playing more than 40 % of the defensive snaps each of the last two years.
The lasting image of Tuttle in a Saints uniform came from his rookie campaign, when he cemented himself into Saints lore by stiff-arming Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan into the turf after intercepting one of his passes in a 26-18 Saints win.
Depending on what happens in the rest of free agency, the Saints could get some return for their losses in the form of compensatory draft picks next year. Though the NFL does not make its proprietary compensation pick formula public, OverTheCap.com projects they could get as much as a fourth-rounder for Onyemata, and a sixth-rounder for Tuttle in the 2024 draft.
But the pressing need is 2023, and the Saints are now faced with the task of rebuilding their starting defensive interior, either through free agency, the draft, or both.
And the losses may not be done along the defensive line: Defensive end Marcus Davenport and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach are both free agents.
Though the Saints are essentially starting from scratch, it is not necessarily a bad thing. After years ranking among the NFL’s best run defenses, New Orleans took a big step back in 2022, ranking 24th in run defense while allowing an eye-popping 4.5 yards per carry.
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