The New Orleans Saints find themselves at No. 15 in the NFL.com’s Eric Edholm final power rankings of 2023. This leaves the Saints sitting in the middle of the pack, which feels appropriate with the entire season. There were long stretches of feeling like the Saints were a below-average team, and at times their poor results proved those doubts valid. New Orleans ended the season strongly, though.
Here’s what Edholm wrote in ranking the Saints at No. 15:
The team’s annual salary-cap surgery must begin soon, given that the Saints open the offseason with the most work left to do. They’re projected to be more than $80 million over the cap as things stand now, and even with some obvious sources for savings, this major hurdle threatens to weaken the team at several key positions: on both lines of scrimmage, at cornerback and at wide receiver. New Orleans also must figure out the future of important but expensive specialists in Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill. With Derek Carr locked in this offseason at QB, there’s a worry that the Saints might not be able to do enough to surround him with the kind of talent he needs. This offense was out of sorts throughout 2023, prone to wild swings in effectiveness on a week-to-week basis, and there’s no clear path to adding major talent this offseason. Oh, and Dennis Allen is back for a third season with a lot to prove. How are you feeling about this team right now, Saints fans?
Numerically, No. 16 would be the definition of average in the NFL. The Saints played well enough to end the season right above that. In reality, that’s still an average team, and they barely make the “top half” of the league. They weren’t good enough to get into the playoffs New Orleans benefitted from a weak schedule down the stretch, but a win against the NFC South-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 17 makes the placement understandable.
In order to improve on these results, New Orleans has to find a way to even out those ups and downs. Better first half performances are a must, and they have to show it against better teams. They’ll likely have a weak schedule again, and the Saints have to take advantage of it better than they did this past season.
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