The New Orleans Saints lost Marcus Williams, who signed a five-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens worth $70 million. To replace him, the Saints quickly moved to land former New York Jets free safety Marcus Maye to a three-year deal worth $28.5 million.
The contracts are different, but Maye is still a very high-priced free safety. Interestingly, there are some similarities between the two players.
Both are free safeties from the 2017 draft class, although Maye is three years older. Maye was drafted out of Florida 39th overall by the Jets and Williams was picked three picks later by the Saints at 42nd overall out of Utah. Both players were also playing under the franchise tag last season, but things ended very differently for Maye.
His season ended early with a torn Achilles tendon. Reports say he is on schedule to be ready for training camp and the contract he signed suggests the Saints are satisfied with his rehab. During this injured period he was also charged with a DUI, so unfortunately he’ll be exposed to the strong possibility of a suspension at some point this season.
In some ways the looming suspension and significant injury make his contract a shock, even though he’s an excellent NFL player when healthy. It’s worth pointing out that Maye’s teammates elected him a team captain in New York.
On NFL.com, you’ll notice that both players appear in the top 101 NFL free agents with Williams at No. 7 and Maye at No. 32. As far as Pro Football Focus (PFF) player grades, these are where they landed year by year:
2017: Williams 89.2, Maye 59.9
2018: Williams 71.1, Maye 80.0
2019: Williams 88.2, Maye 74.5
2020: Williams 78.6, Maye 82.9
2021: Williams 80.1, Maye 55.9
They’re different players, of course. Maye isn’t considered a safety with premium ball skills, with only five interceptions in his four-year college career and six in his NFL career. Williams by comparison had 11 college interceptions and 15 in the pros so far. Maye has also had 24 defended passes in his NFL career compared to 38 for Williams.
Maye is an inch shorter but about 10 pounds heavier than Williams, so his frame is a bit more physical and filled out. While both have high safety ability, Maye is much more versatile in his ability to play close to the line of scrimmage. He’s had nine tackles for a loss in his career compared to just one for Williams.
It’s worth noting that Maye is moved around a lot more and played less than 50 percent of his snaps at free safety last year. The Jets lined him up in the box, the slot and other spots. Williams, by comparison, played high safety on about 90 percent of his snaps.
There’s a narrative out there that Maye is a better tackler than Williams. I’m not sure that’s true. While he’s undoubtedly more physical and aggressive with his tackling, Maye has a missed tackle percentage in his career of 12.5 percentage. Williams, by comparison, is at 10.1 percent. So in the end, while I think Dennis Allen may have more maneuverability with this solid player, the Saints will be losing in range, ball skills, and athleticism.
Williams is an elite free safety and his loss can’t be understated. Maye does help mitigate that loss to some degree, but this shouldn’t be viewed as a lateral move.
A couple plays illustrating good vs. bad… here’s Maye making a very sound and impressive open field tackle, not going for a juke, and saving a touchdown.
Then here’s some false steps in coverage on Travis Kelce resulting in a touchdown.
Watching the tape I would say Maye is more of a physical player that has instincts and savvy. He is not remotely afraid of contact and he takes good steps that allows him to stay sticky in coverage on deep balls.
He doesn’t have the same range as Williams or the freak athleticism, but he makes up for that in superior tenacity and strong relative composure. The Saints are getting a good player… he’s just not Marcus Williams.
Andrew Juge is the co-host of “The Saints Happy Hour Podcast.”