The New Orleans Saints have eight remaining players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on March 10, plus three restricted free agents. Here is a breakdown of safety Jamarca Sanford:
Age: 29
Experience: Heading into 7th season
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 200
Outlook: The Saints don’t need Sanford as badly now as they did when they signed him last November after injuries to safeties Jairus Byrd and Vinnie Sunseri (and later to Rafael Bush). New Orleans expects all three to come back healthy this year, and it also has Kenny Vaccaro, Pierre Warren, Marcus Ball, Kenny Phillips, and Ty Zimmerman at the suddenly crowded position.
But the Saints still might want to bring Sanford back for depth and competition, because he’s an experienced starter and longtime special teams standout. They liked him enough to plug him into their starting lineup for two games in December -- and he finished strong with 10 tackles in the season-ending win at Tampa Bay.
Sanford spent the first five years of his career with the Minnesota Vikings after being drafted in the seventh round out of Ole Miss in 2009. He was a starter from 2011-2013 before being released last summer after a series of nagging injuries. He spent three games with the Washington Redskins before being dropped again and picked up by the Saints.
Sanford has 283 career tackles, with two interceptions, eight forced fumbles and one sack.
