#1 DeMario Davis
Davis has been a staple of Dennis Allen’s defense over the last five seasons. Allen has continued to scale back his pressure packages this season — the Saints are blitzing 17 percent of the time (29th in the league), which is about half as frequently as they did in 2018-20 (32 percent, seventh). As New Orleans’ defense has evolved, so has Davis’ role within it. The veteran linebacker has blitzed on just 13 percent of his pass snaps this season, his first campaign at less than 19 percent in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). Nevertheless, Davis has been as efficient as ever when he is sent after the quarterback, generating the highest pressure rate (25.7 percent) and sack rate (14.3 percent) this season (min. 30 pass-rush snaps). Even with the reduced volume of blitzes, Davis ranks in the top five of pressures among off-ball linebackers for the sixth consecutive season. Don’t let his pass-rush production overshadow how complete of a player Davis is, though. He has allowed just 5.4 yards per target in coverage since joining the Saints in 2018, trailing only Buccaneers CB Jamel Dean in that figure (min. 200 targets). And he is tied with Roquan Smith for the second-most hustle stops (70) over that time frame (a hustle stop is a defensive stop where the player covers 20-plus yards of in-play distance from snap to tackle).