Following the New Orleans Saints’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams, 34-0, Pro Football Focus graded individual player performances.
Despite what it might have felt like watching the matchup, the Saints did get some positive performances from its roster, including one player that may have performed well enough to inspire a trade by the team.
With a minimum of 15 snaps played, here are the highest and lowest grades earned by Saints players.
Highest
- OL Easton Kilty – 80.2
- LB Isaiah Stalbird – 79.1
- DL Khristian Boyd – 77.9
- S Elliott Davison – 77.2
- WR Jalen Cropper – 76.0
Kilty followed up his strong first preseason game with a second impressive performance against the Rams.
He’s quietly been showing well both with his preseason performances and training camp work. His versatility could be the key for him if he wants to go from practice squad to active roster.
As a pass blocker, he was credited for surrendering one hit on the quarterback, but had the team’s best run blocking grade at 86.2.
Stalbird and fellow linebacker Jaylan Ford have both been standouts all throughout camp.
That might be why New Orleans was comfortable trading away veteran backer Deion Jones a few days after the game.
Stalbird finished with six total tackles, including two stops in the run game.
Boyd and Davison are another pair of players looking to grow their roles in 2026. Boyd, a noted run-plugger, made waves as a pass rusher in this one with three hurries while Davison allowed a pair of catches for only eight yards and tallied a run stop.
Cropper had two catches for 34 receiving yards including an impressive contested catch and 25-yard gain. He also forced a missed tackle on his way to 11 yards after catch.
Lowest
- DL Ja’Viar Suggs – 32.7
- OL Alan Herron – 36.6
- DL Khalil Saunders – 40.6
- CB Jayden Price – 41.9
- DL Myles Cole – 42.8
A lot of the lowest-graded players are along the defensive interior. In particular, all three among that unit graded out low as run defenders. The Rams averaged five yards per rush against the Saints’ second and third string defenses.
Herron saw 41 snaps at left tackle, a growing venture for the undrafted free agent, one he will need to keep working at, judging by this matchup. He was credited with allowing a whopping nine pressures. While none were sacks, that’s only one pressure shy of what the Saints defense earned as a whole.
Price allowed just two catches for 19 receiving yards, including a long of 14 and a pass rating of 51.3 while targeted five times. He did also notch a missed tackle, but the stats don’t seem to support the low grade.
