Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings for the 2023 NFL season place the New Orleans Saints special teams unit at second place.

“This was the fifth Top 5 finish for the Saints and their coach Darren Rizzi in the last six seasons,” Gosselin stated. “New Orleans finished in the Top 10 in 13 categories, either leading or sharing the lead in five of them and ending in second in two others. In addition to leading the league in punt coverage yards allowed (a magnificent 5.6 yards), New Orleans also blocked two punts.”

This season, the Saints bravely decided to start rookies at both of their kicking spots, and they were rewarded when both of them helped the special teams unit return to its typical caliber. Blake Grupe, the team’s top scorer with 130 points, broke the rookie record for the Saints with 30 field goals at the end of the season. Punter Lou Hedley played a vital role in the league low 5.6 yards return yards per punt and also ended tied for eighth in the NFL with 31 punts downed inside the opponent 20-yard line.

Rashid Shaheed, a wide receiver and return specialist who finished the season as the Associated Press First roster All-Pro punt returner and was selected to the NFC Pro Bowl roster as a returner in his second NFL season, was another addition to the special teams unit.

The Saints, who usually finish in the top five, ended the 2022 season at twenty-first in Gosselin’s standings.

Gosselin’s rankings, which are based on ranking the teams based on 22 special-teams-related statistics and assigning a numerical value for each ranking on each statistic, have the Saints finishing with 252 points this year, just 236 points behind the Houston Texans. The team with the lowest totals finishes on top of the rankings.

Gosselin has been an NFL reporter for.

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