Last year, the Saints set a record for having the worst yearly Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per drop back in numberFire's database, which dates back to 2000. No defense had ever been less effective against the pass than that Saints team, and there wasn't a team in football that came close in 2015.
This year's Oakland Raiders may give them a run for their money.
Through two weeks, the Raiders' mark of .569 is a hop, skip, and a jump worse than Washington's at .457, and it nearly doubles the Saints' record-breaking mark of 0.362 last year. A lot of this is due to a small sample and competition, but this is barkingly awful.
Allowing Drew Brees to finish with 22.05 Passing NEP in Week 1 is understandable because Brees slays defenses at home and is one of the best quarterbacks of this era. But when Matt Ryan drops 21.31 Passing NEP on only 34 attempts on the road, that'll stick out. Ryan only accounted for 40.03 Passing NEP total on the road all of last year, and that was on 323 attempts. This Oakland defense is bad.
That brings us to the Tennessee Titans' revamped offense, where things haven't really been too terrible. Although they've only scored 32 points, Marcus Mariota's Passing NEP per drop back is sitting at 0.13, a decent improvement from his mark of 0.07 last year. His 4.54 Passing NEP against the Minnesota Vikings looks a lot better when you see that Aaron Rodgers finished with -5.16 while facing the same defense.
Mariota becomes a bit more sparkly through the lens of Passing Success Rate, where he ranks 7th among relevant quarterbacks, another improvement from his 22nd-place finish last year. You would expect all of these numbers to get a boost against the Raiders' defense, pushing Mariota's outlook even higher.
You can absolutely use Mariota by himself in a tournament lineup because of his rushing abilities, but you've also got a pair of quality stacking options in Delanie Walker and Tajae Sharpe.
Walker's usage is still a bit of a concern despite a big week last week. His six targets there pushed him up to a 14.9% market share, only the 15th-best mark among tight ends this year. However, the Raiders allowed tight ends Jacob Tamme and Austin Hooper to combine for 8 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown last week, showing that their struggles against the position aren't gone just yet. Walker's a bit risky, but he has the upside you want.
Sharpe is likely the safest stacking option on the offense. His 18 targets through two weeks easily lead the team, and he has played at least 95% of the snaps in both games. Don't let last week's disappointing line scare you off in a matchup as juicy as this.