Why the Saints should look to sign S Xavier McKinney in Free Agency

An opportunity to move toward the future at the safety position.

The past couple days have been very cutthroat at the safety position around the league. Once the New Orleans Saints decided they were moving on from Marcus Maye, it seemed like the entire league proceeded to let their starting safeties walk as well. We saw the Seattle Seahawks let go of Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs and the Buffalo Bills let Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde move on elsewhere and a bunch more along the way. With many of these moves opening up the safety market a little bit, it makes one wonder about the options the Saints might have this offseason at that position.

Obviously, one of the main focuses that the Saints should have is to get younger. Going out and grabbing one of the players I just mentioned wouldn’t exactly be doing that. When you want to get younger, the draft is usually the best place to do just that. The only tricky thing is that the safety position isn’t very strong this year in the top half of the draft, which would mean the Saints would likely have to target one in the middle rounds. A place where they don’t have many draft selections. While they could potentially draft the next C.J. Gardner-Johnson or Jordan Howden, free agency is the Saints best bet in finding a sure-fire starter. They could most definitely look to get a guy like Jordan Poyer who has played a lot of great football even though he’s a little up there in age. This would be a great move for the team, and it shouldn’t be too costly either, but the downside of that would be that you wouldn’t have him for too much longer. Finding a guy for the future is the preference if you can find one.

Looking at the many safeties that are available, the name that should stick out to many across the league is none other than former Giant Xavier McKinney. The 2020 2nd round pick, really made his presence known last season picking off 3 passes, breaking up 11 and forcing a passer rating of 49.2 when thrown to, good for the top spot at his position. McKinney also posted a 91.2 coverage grade according to PFF which was also 1st in the league and an 87.8 overall grade which was 4th amongst safeties.

Not to mention, he’s only 24 years old…

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

McKinney started off his career on the sideline due to injury only playing in 6 games his rookie year. His sophomore season however, he played all 17 games intercepting 5 passes (including a pick-six) to go along with 10 PBUs and 93 total tackles. The injuries got him again his third season in which he only played 9 games but once again followed up with another phenomenal year.

The New York Giants not using the tag on McKinney was an unexpected surprise around the league being that he just came off an amazing season at such a young age, but this would open the door for intrigue if I were the Saints front office.

Understanding the injury history of the player is one thing, but the Saints have all the reason in the world to pursue a player like McKinney. Skill set wise he’s a perfect blend at safety and can play either role you ask him too similar to safety Marcus Maye whom the team let walk. He’s the young, superstar type of player that the team needs at that position similar to Marcus Williams whom the team also let walk. With Tyrann Mathieu reaching closer to retirement every day, the Saints need a player like this in the pipeline. I know many of you are probably thinking that the Saints won’t pay McKinney since they didn’t pay Marcus Williams, but I don’t believe McKinney will be received in the same light. Marcus Williams didn’t have the injury history that McKinney does and is also a different type of player than he is. Even if the Saints reach the $10-12 million mark on McKinney, I believe it’s worth it in terms of moving this team into the future.

Don’t be surprised if the Saints at least make their interest known at the start of Free Agency.

What are your thoughts on McKinney? Let us know in the comments below.