New Orleans Saints: Top 5 offseason additions, post 2018 NFL Draft

1. Demario Davis, ILB (from New York Jets)

In their three previous seasons prior to 2017, the New Orleans Saints ranked 31st, 31st and 27th, respectively, in total yards per game allowed. In 2014, Sean Payton’s club allowed the fourth-most rushing yards in the NFL and was 25th vs. the pass. One year later, only the Philadelphia Eagles gave up more yards on the ground and only the New York Giants surrendered more through the air. In 2017, the Saints permitted the most passing yards in the league.

Get the picture? Nothing but disaster when it came to this side of the football and a major reason for a trio of 7-9 finishes. And following a 0-2 start in which Payton’s squad gave up a combined 65 points to the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots, it looked like bad business as usual.

But Dennis Allen’s unit would finally settle in. And the results were a defense that wound up finishing 17th in the league in total yards per game allowed. That’s still the middle of the pack, but you have to crawl before you can strut. And that’s why the signing of productive and unsung inside linebacker Demario Davis figures to help immensely.

Next: NFL 2018: Ranking the top 100 games of next season

A season ago, the six-year pro led the New York Jets with 135 tackles and five sacks in his return to the team that made him a third-round draft choice in 2012. The former Arkansas State University standout has not missed a game in his somewhat-brief career and made 79 of a possible 80 starts the past five years. Davis has totaled 100-plus tackles four of the past five seasons (99 with the Cleveland Browns in 2016) and at the very least should help a run defense that ranked 16th in the NFL in ’17.