Alex Okafor‘s season is over. The Saints defensive end suffered a torn Achilles on Sunday that will sideline him for the remainder of the year, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). 
Okafor joined the Saints on a one-year, $3MM deal this offseason and it turned out to be one of the best one-year contracts in the NFL, as detailed recently by PFR’s Dallas Robinson. In ten games, the 26-year-old racked up 43 total tackles and 4.5 sacks – both representing career highs. He currently ranks as Pro Football Focus’ No. 16 ranked edge defender with an 84.7 overall score. His work in 486 snaps has him slotted ahead of big names such as Cameron Wake, Jadeveon Clowney, Chandler Jones, Clay Matthews, and Brian Orakpo. That’s not too shabby for a $3MM investment.
Of course, the trade deadline has come and gone, so the Saints can only look to the free agent market for potential out-of-house upgrades. Jason Jones spent some time with New Orleans during training camp, so he could be a possible fit thanks to his familiarity with the system. It’s not clear if free agents Jared Odrick and Mario Williams are looking to continue their careers, but Tyson Jackson and Jaye Howard, have been hitting the workout circuit hard in recent weeks.
Internally, the Saints could lean more heavily on third-round rookie Trey Hendrickson and sixth-round pick Al-Quadin Muhammad to pick up the slack.
2014 he racked up 8 sacks