Broughton and Miller expectations

Christen Miller: Should compete immediately for NT snaps, should by the starter sooner rather later.
Stats: ~25 tackles, ~3 sacks, ~5 TFL

Vernon Broughton: similar to Miller, Nathan Shepherd is the starter but he can easily be taken over.
Stats: 30 tackles, 5 sacks, 8 TFL

Miller is going to be a pillar for years to come

I expect them to each play roughly 30-40% of the snaps.

Miller won't do much in pass rushing (maybe 1 if you're lucky), but I expect Broughton to get around 2-3 sacks on the year.

End the year starting. Cry Havoc

Vernon Broughton; 6'5"-311. 2025 3rd rd pick (#71 overall).
2025 Rookie Season; Wk1 inactive, then active roster Wk 2 making three tackles playing (24) defensive snaps (34%). Season ending hip injury sustained in the game. I look for him to challenge and overtake Nathan Shepherd, just as I had hoped last season. They are similar size, Shepherd 6'4"-315, and skillset.
Shepherd completely underwhelmed the in '23 & '24 to the point where I was hoping & expecting him to be cut prior t '25. I was very surprised to see him last season in camp immediately be in the starting group and even getting rest days with the other veteran proven starters. '25 he started slow again, somewhat expected in a new defense, but it did feel like he improved as the season went on and he also got 3 sacks. I'd be curious to see his PFF grades for all 3 seasons for us, and for last season curious if they got better after the first few games or not. Regardless he is definitely somebody that can be upgraded.

Christen Miler; 6'3"-321, 2026 2nd rd pick (#42 overall)
I'd expect him to immediately be able to compete for snaps at NT with Davon Godchaux 6'3"-330.
Godchaux, similar to Shepherd started off bad in the first few games then appeared to get better. Also curious to see his PFF scores from game to game last season, as well as overall. Regardless, also very upgradeable. '25 season first 12 games he averaged 48% of the snaps, then saw his snap count drop the remainder of the games to 29%.
In the last year of his contract, but I'm not sure the details of guaranteed money or cap impact of cutting him either before or after June 1st.

Khristian Boyd; 6'2"-320, 2024 6th rd pick (#199 overall)
'24 rookie season was active for 6 games, somewhat surprisingly in Wk1 playing 30% of the snaps.
'25 season he was active only for 4 games, averaging 29% of the snaps and also had some STs snaps.

John Ridgeway; 6'5"-321, 2022 5th rd pick (#178 overall) by Cowboys.
Claimed by Commanders early in '22. Rotational player for them in '22 & '23 before being traded to the Saints along with a 7th rd pick in exchange for our 6th rd pick.
'24 active for 13/17 games, averaged 28% of snaps per game.
'25 active for 4/17 games, averaged 28% of snaps per game.
Just re-signed to a 2yr/$6.2M deal.

All I got is that VB mom a women’s basketball assistant at LSU when he was young. I coached him at summer basketball camp. So his elite footwork could be credited to me

Who did you have in your mock

quote:

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Khristian Boyd

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One of these is not like the others.

I have higher hopes for Z Harris/ Keeshawn Silver than I ever will for Boyd at this point.

I had high hopes for him last season but it did not seem like he made any impact. Ridgeway was legit better than Godchaux last year (statistically with limited playing time) and its not talked about enough.

Ridgeway should be able to take Godchaux's starting spot right now. He can also play DT and could be better than Shepherd right now too.

I expect Ridgeway/ Broughton/ Miller to allow us to trade Godchaux/ Shepherd possibly before the season start but that's being a little hopeful.

If any of the (3) Keeshawn Silver, Boyd, Z Harris show out then that's a wrap for Godchaux/ Shepherd and a huge bonus for the team.