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NFL free agency has quieted down, and the 2020 draft is set down in stone. Like every other team, the New Orleans Saints are now looking towards an uncertain offseason with training camp far off on the horizon. Rosters are set across the league and coaching staffs are itching to get to work.
To gauge where teams stand after the biggest events of the summer, SI polled a group of senior writers, columnists, and reporters including Albert Breer, Andrew Brandt, Gary Gramling, Mitch Goldich, Conor Orr and Jenny Vrentas. Here’s what they had to say about the Saints in their post-draft NFL power rankings:
4. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Points in poll: 168
Highest-place vote: 2 (1 voter)
Lowest-place vote: 9 (1 voter)
Season result: 13-3, lost in wild-card round
Post-SB Rank: 5
SI Draft Grade: C-After three straight heartbreaking playoff exits, Drew Brees is back for another crack at it with a loaded roster.
The Saints sit behind a common group of rivals: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens, and the San Francisco 49ers. Various outlets around the NFL media landscape aren’t in as close agreement on who sits behind those four squads, but we’re starting to see the Saints perceived as legit Super Bowl contenders alongside the Ravens and the two teams that played in last season’s title game.
As for the rest of the NFC South: they’re all slotted outside the top ten, including Tom Brady’s upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11). The Atlanta Falcons (17) and Carolina Panthers (30) are not figuring into many Super Bowl LV forecasts, but they’ve surprised us before. Who could’ve imagined they would both botch their last trips to the Super Bowl so memorably?
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