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No team has won more games than the New Orleans Saints since the start of the 2017 season, with the black and gold bringing home 37 victories over the last three years. That’s one more than the New England Patriots (36) and the reigning-Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs (34), as well as the next-best team in the NFC (the Los Angeles Rams, tied to the Baltimore Ravens with 33 wins).
And according to Peter King of NBC Sports, that’s a strong enough resume to earn a top-three spot in his latest NFL power rankings. However, King expects the Saints to face some trouble from Tom Brady and the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
King pointed out that while the Saints have gone 23-5 against the rest of league (going back to their Week 17 loss at Tampa Bay in 2017), New Orleans has seen too many coin flips against the Buccaneers, notching a 3-2 record in that span. And now Brady will be under center instead of Saints third-stringer Jameis Winston.
Here’s some of what King wrote on his concerns for the Saints in 2020:
This is mostly the same team that stalled in the Superdome against the Vikings in the wild-card game, except for Jameis Winston as an intriguing backup QB, Emmanuel Sanders as a proven alternative to Michael Thomas, and uber-leader Malcolm Jenkins returning to key the secondary in what could also be his last year. Jenkins is the player Sean Payton always regretted letting get away after spending his first five seasons in New Orleans. It’d be fitting for both Jenkins and Brees to go out on top.
To make it to Super Bowl 55, New Orleans will have to be better than up-and-coming San Francisco and the pesky Bucs.
King’s assumption that this is the end of the road for Jenkins is a bit surprising — his contract is structured so that the Saints will not save any cap space by cutting him until 2022 at the soonest. And while he is already 33, Jenkins has been an ironman who never left the field in six years with the Philadelphia Eagles. His body shouldn’t quit on him any time soon.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see if these additions were enough to put the Saints over the top. New Orleans added several rookies they expect to contribute right away — like first-round pick Cesar Ruiz, and pass-rushing linebacker Zack Baun — as a supplement to the veterans signed in free agency. While they must keep an eye on Brady’s Buccaneers, the Saints are very much at the wheel again in the NFC South.
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