Jonas Sanker New Orleans Saints pass rush usage, Digi Mart USA News: One of the more disappointing and confusing aspects of the New Orleans Saints defense is Brandon Staley’s usage of Jonas Sanker, who took over for Alontae Taylor this offseason. The difference in prototype was the reason for intrigue and excitement, however, instead of intensifying the usage of the STAR as a pass rusher, it has been decreased dramatically.
Hopefully this is something the Saints notice and correct during the bye week.
This was one move that sounded good on paper. Sanker has been solid in coverage, not lockdown but not a liability either.
That is the part of the game where we figured there would be a dip, but we also assumed Sanker would make up for it in aggressiveness.
We have seen flashes of how Sanker can come downhill in the run game but not so much in the pass game. Being boiled down to a coverage player in the slot is one of the reasons we toyed with the idea of moving him back to safety, but that will not happen unless Justin Reid is traded.
Sanker’s lack of pass rusher production comes down to coaching, not player, because the opportunities simply are not being presented. It gets more confusing when comparing how much Sanker is blitzed in comparison to Taylor just last year.
Taylor blitzed on pass snaps 44 times last year compared to Sanker’s 8 pass rush snaps through 7 games. That is a 7.9% blitz rate, which accounts for number of snaps instead of games, compared to Sanker’s 3.6%.
On a per game basis, Staley is asking Sanker to blitz about once a game while asking Taylor to do it nearly three times per game. (All stats per Next Gen Stats.)
Using the STAR as a pass rusher was a part of the defense last year, and it raises the question of what changed philosophically.
Same system, different players and prototypes, and a drastically different usage. As a natural safety instead of corner, conventional wisdom leans toward using the former more aggressively at STAR.
Safeties are not typically put into the slot for their coverage abilities.
Stereotyping the positions aside, Sanker has the traits and production to be used more in this role. It is impossible to say he is better than Taylor because of an extremely limited sample size.
However, Sanker’s get-off time, pressure rate, quick pressure rate and time to pressure are all better than Taylor’s were last season. Those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt because we are comparing 8 pass rush snaps to 44.
It is not enough to rank Sanker as a pass rusher, but it is enough to say we need to see more of it, especially since it falls in line with his play style and Staley’s history.
An uptick in usage would help maximize Sanker and help a team that does not do a great job getting pressure on the quarterback. It is a change that feels beneficial for all parties, but time will tell whether Staley noted this during his self-scouting during the bye week.
