New Orleans Saints: The 2012 Defense Broke a Record and the Bank

The 2012 New Orleans Saints defense set the NFL record for most yards allowed in a single season—and broke the bank in the process

The Saints defense allowed 7,042 yards in 2012—shattering the Baltimore Colts' 31-year-old record of 6,793 yards.

Head coach Sean Payton and newly hired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan have already been hard at work to improve the Saints defense. New Orleans signed cornerback Keenan Lewis to a five-year, $25 million deal. Analysts praised the signing, including SI.com, which gave it an "A" grade.

However, it's unlikely Ryan plans to stop with just one good signing. Expect the Saints to deal out a little more cash to bring in a few more players to fit Ryan's new 3-4 scheme. Fortunately, the Saints have some flexibility with the salary cap due to Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma taking pay cuts.

Yet if the Saints could afford to use the pay cuts of Smith and Vilma to sign a player to an average of $5 million per year, just how much were Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, and the other starters on the worst defense in NFL history getting paid?

2012 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS DEPTH CHART: DEFENSE
Position	Player	Average Salary
DT	Brodrick Bunkley	$5 million
DT	Sedrick Ellis	$6.7 million
DE	Will Smith	$10.2 million
DE	Cameron Jordan	$1.9 million
OLB	David Hawthorne	$3.8 million
MLB	Curtis Lofton	$5.5 million
OLB	Jonathan Vilma	$7.1 million
CB	Jabari Greer	$5.3 million
CB	Patrick Robinson	$1.9 million
S	Roman Harper	$6.3 million
S	Malcolm Jenkins	$3.8 million
	Total =	$57.5 million

                                                                                                                                                        The 2012 Saints' starting 11 players on defense were making a total average salary of $57.5 million per year. Whether $57.5 million is a reasonable price depends on the product purchased. The table below shows the New Orleans Saints' defensive statistics for 2012.

2012 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS DEFENSIVE STATS
Category	Statistic	NFL Rank
Total Yards Allowed in 2012	7,042	No. 32
Points Allowed Per Game	28.4	No. 31
Passing Yards Allowed Per Game	292.6	No. 31
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game	147.6	No. 32

As per the information in the table above, New Orleans paid approximately $57.5 million for the worst defense in the NFL. Compare that to the 2012 Seattle Seahawks, whose defensive stats are in the table below.

2012 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEFENSIVE STATS
Category	Statistic	NFL Rank
Total Yards Allowed in 2012	4,899	No. 4
Points Allowed Per Game	15.3	No. 1
Passing Yards Allowed Per Game	203.1	No. 6
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game	103.1	No. 10

As is indicated in the table above, Seattle had one of the best defenses in the league in 2012. But how much did it pay for its defense's performance?

2012 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS DEPTH CHART: DEFENSE
Position	Player	Average Salary
DT	Brandon Mebane	$5 million
DT	Alan Branch	$3.5 million
DE	Red Bryant	$7 million
DE	Chris Clemons	$7.3 million
OLB	Leroy Hill	$1.6 million
MLB	Bobby Wagner	$1.1 million
OLB	K.J. Wright	$630k
CB	Richard Sherman	$560k
CB	Brandon Browner	$430k
S	Kam Chancellor	$500k
S	Earl Thomas	$4.2 million
	Total =	$31.8 million

As shown above, Seattle's starting 11 players on defense had a total average salary of $31.8 million. 

So here's a side-by-side comparison of the Saints and Seahawks defenses in 2012.

New Orleans Saints		Seattle Seahawks
$57.5 million	Total Average Salaries	$31.8 million
7,042	Total Yards Allowed	4,899
28.4	Points Allowed Per Game	15.3
292.6	Passing Yards Allowed Per Game	203.1
147.6	Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game	103.1

Essentially, the Seattle Seahawks paid an average of $25.7 million less than the New Orleans Saints in 2012 for a much better defensive unit. 

But hindsight is 20/20.

Fortunately for Rob Ryan, he's got nowhere to go but up.

All contract information was provided by spotrac.com.