Tag: candidates

Marcus Maye listed as a Saints salary cap cuts candidate

Marcus Maye was listed as a New Orleans Saints salary cap cuts candidate by Pro Football Focus:

The New Orleans Saints free agency decisions are coming up, which means bringing new players and letting go of some others. Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger recently released a list of potential cut candidates as teams consider how to save some money. For the Saints, Spielberger listed veteran safety Marcus Maye. If cut after June 1, he would carry around $2.4 million in dead money and bring $7.2 million in cap savings.

Here is what PFF had to say about Maye and why they believe he could be a cap casualty:

The Saints will have to restructure virtually every big contract on their roster, as is tradition, but Maye offers legitimate savings as a post-June 1 release. Fifth-round rookie Jordan Howden flashed some promise down the stretch after Maye was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

Maye makes a lot of sense as a potential cut for the New Orleans Saints, with Spielberger making good points in his blurb. The emergence of Howden, a 2023 draft pick, makes this decision a lot easier. The rookie provided a comparable level of play as Maye did before his injury, for much cheaper.

Giving Howden more room to grow in that bigger role and saving money on a player that has been in and out of the lineup almost seems like a no-brainer move, but Maye’s experience on the back end might be enough to save his job. At the same time he’s missed a full 17-game season’s worth of games to injuries and a suspension since signing with New Orleans, so the team must make a decision soon.

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Do the Saints have the least-desirable offensive coordinator opening in 2024?

Do the Saints have the least-desirable offensive coordinator opening in 2024? Let’s look at the remaining vacancies and compare:

Teams in the NFL tell you a lot of things by how they spends their money, but that’s also true of the hiring pool. The best candidates for, say, an open offensive coordinator job are going to quickly cut a deal with the best opportunities for success. If a team doesn’t look like a good landing spot, it won’t attract good candidates.

So, no: it’s clear by now that the New Orleans Saints are not seen as one of the best opportunities for coaches looking to call plays as an offensive coordinator. If that were the case they would have landed one of the best candidates like Shane Waldron (who picked the Chicago Bears instead) or Zac Robinson (who preferred his fit with the Atlanta Falcons).

Every situation is different. Some coaches may feel differently about some teams than others. How they would rank the remaining openings — including the Saints — differs from one candidate to the next. It’s possible that some coaches look at New Orleans and decide they have a better chance of success somewhere else. But the difference can’t be that great. Let’s take a look at what each of the remaining vacancies has to offer:

Pros and cons of every OC candidate Saints have interviewed

Breaking down the pros and cons of every offensive coordinator candidate the New Orleans Saints have interviewed:

The writing was on the wall for Pete Carmichael following the New Orleans Saints’ 2023 season. He was let go after 14 years as the team’s offensive coordinator and the Saints will need to replace him. They’ve already done a number of interviews, but a few coaches have already been hired away.

Carmichael was a nice coach under Payton, but really lacked the ability to run the offense without him. As Dennis Allen is a defensive head coach, whoever the Saints hire will have to carry the load of the offense.

Here are the pros and cons to every offensive coordinator candidate the Saints have interviewed so far (that is still available):

Dan Pitcher passes on Saints to accept Bengals promotion

Dan Pitcher passed on the Saints to accept Bengals promotion, taking an offensive coordinator candidate off the table for New Orleans:

This seemed to be the way the wind was blowing: Dan Pitcher will be staying with the Cincinnati Bengals to succeed Brian Callahan as offensive coordinator under head coach Zac Taylor, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Pitcher previously interviewed with the New Orleans Saints for their offensive coordinator opening and was scheduled to travel to New Orleans for a second meeting on Thursday. But they’ll never get that opportunity to speak with him now that he’s staying put and taking a promotion in Cincinnati.

It’s disappointing to miss out on one of their first choices for the job, but the Saints aren’t lacking for qualified candidates. Hopefully they can pivot to another option quickly. Coordinator jobs are being filled around the league and Saints decision-makers Dennis Allen and Mickey Loomis have a lot to prove by recruiting a good one. If they fall short of that aspiration, well: it would justify much of the criticism they have faced over the last two years in life without Sean Payton.

Ronald Curry interviewed for the Saints’ offensive coordinator vacancy

Ronald Curry interviewed for the Saints’ offensive coordinator vacancy last week. The longtime assistant coach is in the mix:

This was expected: New Orleans Saints quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Ronald Curry interviewed for the team’s open offensive coordinator job, as first reported by the Times-Picayune’s Luke Johnson, with CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson adding that Curry met with Saints brass to discuss the opening a week ago.

It makes sense to consider an internal candidate as respected as Curry. He’s been with the Saints for eight years and has climbed the ladder from working with the wide receivers to quarterbacks to playing a key role in the overall structure of the offense. He’s highly-regarded outside the building, too; Sean Payton tried to take Curry with him to Denver last year. He also interviewed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their offensive coordinator job in the last hiring cycle.

Does that make him a favorite to get the job? Not so fast. The Saints have interviewed half a dozen candidates from the Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan coaching trees, all of whom would bring something new to the table. We’ll have to wait and see who ultimately lands the job, but Curry doesn’t have an inside track just because of familiarity. The Saints have expressed a desire to go in a new direction offensively. They must follow through with it.

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Titans head coach news could have big ripple effects for Saints

Bengals QB coach Dan Pitcher has an interview scheduled with the Saints, but another opportunity just opened up with the Titans hiring Brian Callahan as head coach:

Every head coach change in the NFL creates ripple effects that are felt by other teams around the league, and the Tennessee Titans’ decision is a good example of that. The Titans are hiring Brian Callahan as their next head coach — and that move could hurt the New Orleans Saints’ own personnel plans for 2024.

Callahan previously worked as the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator, and the Bengals have an obvious candidate to replace him already on staff in quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The problem for the Saints is that Pitcher is on their list of candidates to interview for their own offensive coordinator opening. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Pitcher already scheduled an in-person interview with the Saints for Thursday after meeting with a few other teams. He’s already spoken with the Saints in an introductory virtual interview per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill.

But that second sit-down interview may never come to pass if Pitcher would rather stay in Cincinnati and take a promotion (or follow Callahan to Tennessee). It’s too soon to say whether that’s actually going to happen. At the same time, it’s a very realistic possibility.

And that’s a tough break for New Orleans. They swung at a couple of high-profile candidates and haven’t yet made contact. Shane Waldron is joining the Chicago Bears. Jerrod Johnson interviewed with the Saints on Monday, but not even getting a chance to speak with Pitcher in person would be disappointing. Hopefully Pitcher sticks to his commitments and gives the Saints a fair shot. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Moving on from Pete Carmichael is just part of the Saints’ path forward

Moving on from Pete Carmichael is just part of the Saints’ path forward. Finding the right offensive coordinator is the most important decision of Dennis Allen’s career:

It wasn’t an easy decision, but the New Orleans Saints did it: they fired longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael on Tuesday, cutting off one of the last remaining pieces of their Super Bowl XLIV-winning team.

Now what?

Moving on from Carmichael isn’t enough. The Saints must replace him with a play caller who brings something new to the table: an upgrade, not a lateral move. By parting ways with Carmichael (and assistant coaches like Kodi Burns and Bob Bicknell) they’re signaling that it was Carmichael holding back the offense for the first three months, not quarterback Derek Carr.

So finding an offensive coordinator who can get more out of Carr while improving the run game is going to be key. Maybe that’s someone already on staff like passing game coordinator Ronald Curry. Maybe it’s someone who has worked with Carr before, like Jon Gruden. Or maybe an entirely fresh perspective could be the answer. There are assistant coaches on the rise around the league like San Francisco 49ers passing game specialist Klint Kubiak and Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson who could be in demand.

At the same time, Allen has tried and failed to recruit upgrades in each of his first two years on the job. He could be in a similar tough spot again this year with candidates looking elsewhere for better opportunities. If that’s the case, Allen might have to settle for a retread like Ken Dorsey (ex-Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator) or Jim Bob Cooter (the Indianapolis Colts’ OC, who defers play calling to head coach Shane Steichen). This is the most important hire Allen will make in his three-year run as head coach.

If Allen misfires and the Saints miss the playoffs yet again in 2024, that has to be the end of the line. That must be what’s at stake here: playoffs or bust. Another average-at-best showing from the offense and near-.500 record can’t be good enough. Not when the Saints marketed Allen’s own hiring two years ago as a move that would keep them competitive in the playoffs. After hiring his own coaches and drafting his own players and getting his own quarterback, Allen won’t have any excuses or anyone else to blame if he can’t guide this team to the postseason next year.

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9 potential replacements for Saints head coach Dennis Allen

The Saints may not be preparing to fire Dennis Allen, but they should be. Better head coach candidates are out there like Jim Harbaugh, Ben Johnson, and Brian Flores:

Will the New Orleans Saints move on from Dennis Allen after this season? They probably should. He hasn’t met the expectations set for him in either of his first two years as their head coach, and he’ll need to to beat two NFC South rivals that defeated him soundly earlier this season just to finish the 2023 campaign with a winning record.

The Saints went all in on his vision for the team by signing his preferred quarterback Derek Carr to a lucrative contract and repeatedly trading up in the NFL draft for prospects he wanted the most, costing them much-needed picks that could have been used to restock an aging roster. And Allen hasn’t had anything to show for it. It’s time to move on from the coach with the 184th-ranked career winning percentage in NFL history whether the Saints’ brass wants to admit it or not.

So who are their options if they do dismiss Allen from his post? Years of poaching have thinned out the crowd of candidates ahead of the latest coaching carousel, but there are some intriguing names on the market. Here are five coaches we’d like to see wearing black and gold:

Catching up with the head coach candidates Saints spurned for Dennis Allen

Where are they now? Catching up with the head coach candidates the New Orleans Saints spurned for Dennis Allen:

Look, the New Orleans Saints at least made a pretense of considering other options back when Sean Payton left the team and opened a vacancy at head coach. They interviewed well-qualified candidates like Doug Pederson and Brian Flores before ultimately going with what they saw as a safe choice in promoting Dennis Allen — and now Pederson and Flores have both claimed head-to-head wins against him.

So what about the other head coach candidates the Saints passed on in favor of Allen? Where are they now? Let’s run through the list:

For/Against: 4 players the Saints could move by NFL trade deadline

They aren’t set up for a fire sale, but these are four players the Saints could move by the NFL trade deadline. The question is whether they should deal:

We’re less than a week out from the NFL trade deadline on Oct. 31, and the New Orleans Saints aren’t exactly set up for a fire sale. The only players they could trade and save more than $2 million right now would be Cameron Jordan (who just signed an extension this summer) and James Hurst (who is their starter at left tackle, and whose ankle injury prohibits any trade anyway).

So trading players for immediate salary cap relief is off the table. That’s not to say the Saints couldn’t have other motivations in being sellers at the deadline. They could trade veteran players in hopes of opening more snaps for inexperienced teammates, or thinning out their list of pending free agents in 2024. But just because they could do something doesn’t mean they should. Here are the arguments for and against trading these four candidates: