2016 New Orleans Saints Mid-Season Grades – Defense

Aug 26, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Saints completed the first half of their season this past Sunday with a convincing 41-23 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The win was the Saints’ 4th in their last 5 contests, with only one foolish penalty and untimely fumble away from winning five straight games in a row.

In an earlier segment, we took a look at the Saints offense by each position group, grading their performance thus far and looked at their potential going into the final half of their schedule.

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Now, it’s time to look at the New Orleans defense.

An oftentimes criticized unit in recent years, and one that has been absolutely decimated by injury so far this season.

For the last two seasons, the Saints have completely retooled their defense through both the draft and free agency.

With 8 games completed in the 2016 season, let’s take a look at how they’ve fared so far.

Starting first with this key position….