Film study: What the New Orleans Saints are getting in the Davon Godchaux trade

The New Orleans Saints have had a relatively quiet start to the tampering period, only making a few moves. These include re-signing Chase Young to a three-year deal, re-signing Nathan Shepherd to a one-year deal, and early in the morning prior to the period opening, they made a trade with the New England Patriots.

Based on the draft compensation the Saints sent out, many may believe this trade is inconsequential and the player they got in return is not overly productive. This could not be further from the truth, however, as nose tackle Davon Godchaux is likely going to end up having a large role with the Saints in 2025, and likely 2026 as well.

In this article, we will be taking a look at some film from the 2024 season on Godchaux, and determining what he provides to the Saints for these upcoming seasons. There is no doubt that he has some positive traits, and they are clearly on display when watching him play. Here are some of the key components of his skillset and plays that illustrate them:

High-quality run defense

When you watch Davon Godchaux play football, the first thing that immediately pops off the page is his ability to stop the run, which is an enormous need for the Saints. The New Orleans Saints allowed 2,404 rushing yards, 20 rushing touchdowns, and 4.9 yards per carry on defense in 2024 against the run. The New England Patriots on the other hand? They allowed 2,233 rushing yards, 16 rushing touchdowns, and 4.4 yards per carry, essentially an entire game worth of counting stats split the two teams.

This is heavily due to the success of Godchaux, who is able to steady himself like an anchor on the interior defensive line, wait for the run to come to him, and then make a play nearly immediately without hesitation. This first rep on film is one of my favorites after watching many of his plays.

He makes a quick push into the chest plate of opposing center Aaron Brewer, and as Brewer starts to face the left side of the offensive line to block, Godchaux notices the ball carrier has cut back and will be coming toward the center of the line instead. So what does he do? He controls the gap by locking Brewer out using his momentum and is immediately able to stop the play dead in its tracks with a wrap-up and tackle.

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— j56886948 (@j56886948) March 23, 2025

In this second play, you see a little bit more of his true play strength, where he is able to engage with a blocker and just keep them at bay until the runner comes to him. Even with multiple players nearly breaking through the offensive line, they did not have a shot at the running back here. Godchaux did because he timed his ability to disengage from the blocker correctly, and stopped the ball-carrier at the line of scrimmage.

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— j56886948 (@j56886948) March 23, 2025

Finally, we get a bit of a different look at Godchaux here, and one that shows immense control of distance and his ability to engage/disengage at will. Initially, he fully engages with the opposing offensive lineman (Dominick Puni), and as he starts to see the run develop to the outside of the offensive line, he works to open the gap between him and Puni by pushing hard against him with one arm, creating some distance between the two.

He does that with his right arm, and this gives him the opportunity to drag down the ball carrier with exclusively his left arm at first before he can get the right arm free. It is also worth noting that this is not a particularly small running back by any means, as it is Jordan Mason, who is 5-foot-11 and 223 pounds.

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— j56886948 (@j56886948) March 23, 2025

Collapsing the interior of the pocket

The other ability he has is instead of anchoring, he utilizes his size and dominating strength to drive the offensive lineman back into the pocket, which could be enormously useful for the Saints. Their difficulty in 2024 was collapsing the pocket from the edges, but having difficulty bringing the quarterback down once they did so. If they have someone breaking down the interior at the same time and folding the pocket in, it gives them a chance to bring a QB down before they can get a pass off.

You can see Godchaux lining up over center Aaron Brewer here once again, and he immediately makes his presence known, using his arms to leverage out to the left side, once he gets to the side of Brewer, he just runs as hard as he physically can straight at the gap when he sees the quarterback. The impressive part of this is that the center never disengages from Godchaux on this play, but even then, he is able to drive straight through the center for about five yards. When he gets close enough, he analyzes the pass, and gets his hand up to block it, all while the center has both hands on his pads and is actively trying to drag him down.

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— j56886948 (@j56886948) March 23, 2025

Lockdown in the red zone

Next up we see this ability to utilize his raw strength and generate it into play strength, being able to do so is a difficult transition for many young players, but Godchauax has seen enough plays as a starter to collapse pockets and gaps alike. You won't see him for much of this play, but he starts off lined up over-center, immediately engages then disengages as he realizes it is a QB rush, and his first action is to get his pads low, get his arms out, and push into the scrum at the center of the play. His push is the first one to hit quarterback Anthony Richardson, who at 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, is not an easy player to stop momentum in its tracks on. Godchaux does so and then gets help from the other defensive lineman to completely seal off the run.

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— j56886948 (@j56886948) March 23, 2025

Watching through the film has personally even changed my opinion of Godchaux, as initially, he seemed like a veteran presence who was just going to exclusively going to add to the run defense and nothing else. However, after further understanding what he brings to the table, the Saints did a solid job getting him for a future late-round draft pick, given his experience and skill set. He will no doubt be a valuable piece to this new-look defense in 2025 and will provide some valuable insight into run defending for the younger players in the midst.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Film study: What the Saints are getting in Davon Godchaux trade

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