{"id":781180,"date":"2026-02-28T02:14:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/781180\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T02:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:14:31","slug":"carl-granderson-cooled-after-hot-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/781180\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Granderson cooled after hot start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 27, 2026, 4:30 p.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Defensive end Carl Granderson had been one of the few consistent pass rushers for the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-orleans-saints\/350\" data-autotag=\"84b23fc0-f769-4d65-9d38-018c62e4efd7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> over the last two years. With last offseason&#8217;s hiring of Brandon Staley as new defensive coordinator, some believed that Granderson would flourish in a new system. He was expected to be primarily a stand-up pass rusher on the edge, joining Chase Young and Cameron Jordan in those roles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">An undrafted rookie in 2019, Granderson has spent his entire career with the Saints. Over the previous three seasons, he&#8217;d led New Orleans defenders with 19.5 sacks and 42 QB hits. Here&#8217;s how Granderson adapted to the new defensive scheme under Staley.<\/p>\n<p>Carl Granderson Year in ReviewPosition: Outside linebackerAge: 29Height: 6-feet, 5 inchesWeight: 261 poundsNFL experience: 7 years (with Saints)2025 season: 17 games (6 starts)<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With Chase Young on the PUP list to start the season, Granderson was the top pass rusher for the Saints. He&#8217;d respond to the responsibility in resounding fashion. Over the first four weeks, Granderson had 4.5 sacks and 9 pressures. He was among the NFL leaders in both categories over the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Young was back in the lineup by Week 5. Even with more opposing attention on Young and a surging Cameron Jordan, Granderson all but disappeared. He&#8217;d still receive a good number of defensive snaps, but would struggle against the run and be virtually invisible as a pass rusher. Between weeks 5 and 14, Granderson had 6 pressures but only 1 QB hits and no sacks or tackles for loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Granderson ended the 2025 campaign strong, just as he began it. Over the last four weeks he had 9 pressures and finished the year with 1.5 sacks against the Falcons in the season finale. On the year, Granderson&#8217;s totals were 6 sacks, 23 pressures, 9 QB hits, 11 tackles for loss, and 4 passes batted down. Most of that production came in the first four and the last four games of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Carl Granderson has shown that he can be productive as an edge rusher in Brandon Staley&#8217;s defensive scheme. However, he&#8217;s not shown that he can do so consistently. The Saints to add another edge rusher to team with Young and possibly re-sign Jordan, with Granderson likely being a valuable rotational piece with some versatility to also play as a down lineman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 27, 2026, 4:30 p.m. CT Defensive end Carl Granderson had been one of the few consistent pass&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[95878,7,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,15505,96128,95882,96771,97767,97758,95896,96129,95888,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-781180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints","16":"tag-sstssportsnflsaints","17":"tag-sstsnsaints","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcameron-jordan","20":"tag-tagcarl-granderson","21":"tag-tagchase-young","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnew-orleans-saints","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116145848658976427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}