As the NFL offseason
is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in
2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of
the New Orleans Saints.
2017 Season Recap:
With a new year present, a new challenge for the Saints and Coach Sean
Payton was the task at hand. Clearly on the hot seat backing a 2016 campaign
which saw the Saints go 7-9 missing the playoffs. Retooling a team that still
possessed great levels of talent but needed more of a solid infusion of
difference makers to take them over the top. The 2017 draft class orchestrated
by coach Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis was absolutely one for the
ages. Striking gold in the first round, the Saints saw super star Marshon
Lattimore fall as injury questions creeped in on draft day, which turned out to
be nothing serious. Falling head over heels with tackle Ryan Ramczyk, they
pulled the trigger without much thought. With another second round pick the
Saints grabbed Safety Marcus Williams who had a great season aside from the
unfortunate missed tackle in the playoff loss to the Vikings. While taking a
chance entering the third round in hopes he was going to still be there, the
Saints hit the jackpot in drafting rookie sensation Alvin Kamara. Not many
could’ve predicted what was to transpire in 2017 for the Saints with this draft
class, but we sure were entertained.
As free agency opened, Payton felt the need to hedge his bets that Alvin
Kamara might not produce and develop they way he’d like, Adrian Peterson was
signed to a contract to bolster the unit. As the Saints entered week one and
week two, the play on the field didn’t match what was showing on paper as New
Orleans dropped both contests – first to the Vikings in rather ugly fashion,
then to the Patriots again with little effort assembled. Realizing the seat was
getting hotter under coach Payton, a complete revamping of the defensive unit
took place that would limit the amount of blitzing and play a more balanced
approach to take advantage of the players skill-sets. Offensively Payton chose
in favor to limit Peterson to more of a sideline participate ultimately going
with a duo of Ingram and Kamara to handle the workload. As the adjustments
seemed to work, the Saints got back on track wining their next two contests
with superb display beating the Panthers and the Dolphins. Entering their early
bye in week five, the complaints grew from Peterson regarding the lack of
playing time he was seeing. Becoming a real distraction, the Saints granted him
his wish and shipped him off to the Cardinals removing him from the equation.
With Ingram and Kamara fully planted as the starting tandem to carry this team,
the Saints looked like a different squad.
With a record of 2-2 coming off the bye, the Saints went on a roll
winning their next six games against a favorable schedule. Dropping the Lions
in a very exciting shootout that saw both teams put up and astronomical 90
points, was definitely something to witness. Continuing on their winning path
they became victorious against the Packers (Aaron Rodgers hurt), the Bears,
Bucs, Bills, and the Redskins – brining their record to 8-2. Entering week 12
with a plethora of divisional contests awaiting, the NFC South was in a clear
title fight between the Panthers, Falcons, and the Saints. This indeed was the
best division in football for 2017. Tumbling back to earth the Saints lost to
the charging LA Rams in week 12 while rebounding with a quality win verses the
Panthers in week 13. Having to win two of their next four contests, would
almost guarantee New Orleans the division title, which is exactly what
occurred. Winning the NFC South brought joy back to the fan base while putting
coach Payton’s chair back to tolerable temperatures.
Entering the playoffs having to play divisional foe – the Carolina
Panthers and Cam Newton for a third time this season, had the experts
questioning if the third time was the charm for Carolina to beat the Saints. An
extremely exciting contest took place under the Superdome as both offenses made
big play after big play answering each others touchdowns. With New Orleans
leading at the half by the count of 21-9, Carolina had a few tricks up their
sleeve. Clawing all the way back, Cam Newton made Drew Brees work for this win,
with four minutes remaining on the clock the Panthers were trailing by only
five. As the game was winding down Drew Brees gave the fans heart palpitations
as he carelessly tossed an interception late that could’ve broken the game wide
open for the Panthers. Nevertheless, the Saints defense stepped up to the plate
again showing the improvement from adjustments shutting down Newton to take
home the win. With the wildcard round in the books, New Orleans made travel to
Minnesota to take on the Vikings. This contest didn’t start favorably for the
Saints as the Vikings defense was a challenge all by itself. Trailing 17-0 at
halftime, it all looked to be a wrap punching their ticket back home to the big
easy. But never counting out future hall of famer Drew Brees, he rallied his
troops and fought all the back to take the lead with under one minute to go in
the game. To the dismay of the faithful, with ten seconds remaining on the
clock – Case Keenum dropped back threw up a perfect pass to Stefon Diggs as
rookie safety Marcus Williams completely blew his assignment allowing Diggs to
scamper free into the endzone ending the Saints season as it looked to be
heading to the NFC Championship. Losses like that sting and it will be
interesting to see how they overcome.
2018 Offseason
Workbook:
Offseason Review:
With a draft class
that was nearly perfect, that created a team with matchup nightmares for the
opposition y, there’s a lot to be proud of for what this team was able to
accomplish in the 2017 season. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara were a force
generating a whooping 3094 yards from scrimmage and totaling a great 25 touchdowns.
With that type of production, it led the Saints to rank in the top five in
every statistical category for the season. Holding the 4th best rank
in points scored (28.0 PPG), 2nd in total yards (391.2 YPG), 5th
in passing yards (261.8 YPG), and 5th in rush yards (129.4 YPG),
this offensive unit was truly unstoppable at times. The one concern that could
be noticed was the slight drop off in the play of the great Drew Brees. While
he still produced top tier numbers in passing yards, he saw his lowest totals
in touchdown passes (23) since his 2003 season with the San Diego Chargers. Its
not time to ring the bell for great concern, but it could be something that
shouldn’t go overlooked this offseason. The offensive scheme was adjusted to
focus on exploiting the talents of their fantastic running backs, while aside
from Michael Thomas, Brees really had no true reliable secondary wide receiver
option to pass to. This offseason should most definitely see the Saints target
more receiving help to add to this potent unit. Tight end is another spot that
is lacking high-end talent, as free agent bust Coby Fleener hasn’t panned out
they way they had hoped. Rounding out an improving offensive line could also be
on the docket - but all in all, this side of the ball has a lot of potential to
work with.
Defensively, the
Saints were a far improved squad from a season ago. Unable to stop a cold last
season, this unit was burned on every occasion unable to stop the bleeding each
and every week. From being last in almost all areas statistically (last year),
New Orleans upgraded to view in the middle of the pack correcting a lot of
their issues. Ranking 10th in points allowed (20.4 PPG), 17th
in total yards allowed (336.5 YPG), 15th in pass yards allowed
(224.8 YPG), and 16th in rush yards allowed (111.7 YPG), is a far
cry from being elite, but from where they came from, it’s a great improvement.
With Cameron Jordan, Sheldon Rankins and Alex Okafor leading the way on the
defensive line, the Saints were able to drop opposing quarterbacks a healthy 42
times last season. With a turnover ratio of +7, the Saints became a viable opportunistic
attacking unit that took the ball away an incredible 37 times – twenty via
interception and 17 via fumbles, very impressive. With areas still possessing holes
and glaring needs, New Orleans will have to add more to this unit to keep it
moving in the right direction. Adding talent to the line backer unit will be a
top priority as they saw average pay created from the middle of the field.
Added depth to a defensive front that saw its share of failure as much as it
saw success will be another important target zone. Rounding out the secondary
with more playmakers could possibly take this unit over the top in 2018 -
making them extremely difficult to face on Sundays. When reviewing how this
club is building, they need to take advantage of the few remaining years left
in Drew Brees arm with accumulating skilled players on this side of the
ball.
Rostered Free Agents:
Entertaining with a
whopping 21 players in need of a contract, Mickey Loomis will absolutely have
his work cut out for him this offseason. Already putting ink to paper, Loomis
re-signed free safety Kurt Coleman to a contract extension worth 18 million
over the next 3 years. With one player checked off the list, the Saints are now
left with a decent 30 million to play with under the cap. Next player up of
course will be the handling of Drew Brees’ contract at the ripe age of 39 and
possibly beginning his decent from the football world. With quarterbacks
continuing to sign ridiculous contracts with astronomical amounts of money, the
current market value would suggest Brees should be offered a 2-year deal worth
around 50 million dollars. General manager Loomis will have to get very
creative if he intends to settle on that number hiding a large portion in the
form of a signing bonus to help save cap room. With this large listing of
mostly depth talent, other key names that will be difficult to re-up includes;
safety Kenny Vaccaro, defensive end Alex Okafor, and line backer Gerald Hodges.
With the Saints brain trust already indicating they won’t have the room to
re-sign Kenny Vaccaro, it would leave a giant hole on the back end of that
defense to address. Locking Brees is obvious priority number one, everyone else
could be seen as an afterthought in this process.
It’s very clear that
creating more funds to work with is on the agenda, but New Orleans has unfortunately
locked themselves into less than favorable contract situations that any
resulting move in savings would explode their dead cap responsibilities. Coby
Fleener could be seen as a potential cap casualty but would have to apply his
release post June 1st to supplant a multitude of dead money. Doing
it this way the Saints could save 3 million on the books. Ted Ginn also offers
a post June 1st cut designation freeing up another 3 million but
leaving them without another playmaker on the offense. Outside those two moves,
it will be very difficult to generate big dollars to help this team sign much
of anything. They shouldn’t be anything of a player on the open market.
NFL Draft:
Holding eight picks in
this year’s draft, the Saints don’t house their second-round pick but have
added two 5th rounders, and two 6th rounders to the mix.
Finding a way to score large in a second straight draft class might be very
difficult, but we are sure they are up to the challenge. With a scouting department
filled with excellent talent evaluators, its not inconceivable that New Orleans
finds high-end players to add to this team. With impending free agents and the
inability to re-sign a lot of their depth, line backer, safety, wide receiver,
tight end – should be the main objectives going into the 2018 draft. Rounding
out depth on the defensive line and secondary units will also add great value.
It will be very intriguing to see this one play out to witness another stellar
draft class produce like the one from a year ago.
Overall for 2018:
With cap constraints
inhibiting their ability to move freely in adding to this team, it will
undoubtedly be a giant task to correct the mistakes of over paying lower
talent. ADF fully expects Brees to get his deal done but would be surprised to
see a home town discount be accepted to help get this club back to compete for
another Super Bowl. Sean Payton has resurrected this team back to levels the
NFL public has grown accustomed to and should be able to continue the growth
process provided Brees gets locked up. An interesting yet somewhat worrisome
offseason is about to commence for the WHO-DAT Nation, buckle up and get ready
for the ride, it should be fun.
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