B/R picks the 3 biggest priorities for the Saints this offseason

As the Saints enter a make or break offseason, Bleacher Report list the three biggest priorities this offseason for better results in 2024:

The Saints are heading into a make or break season with an aging team and a coach who is on the hot seat. If things don’t work in 2024, New Orleans will likely hit the reset button. Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton has identified the priorities this offseason for the Saints to achieve the desired success.

Let’s look at his first point. The first priority is hiring an offensive coordinator to get the best out of Derek Carr. This is the number one most important decision of the offseason. New Orleans can’t go through next year with the same issues offensively. Carr has a reputation of struggling in his first year in a system. No one can afford that trend to continue. The team will struggle, Dennis Allen will be fired and in turn so will the new offensive coordinator.

The second priority is getting creative with more salary cap gymnastics. This is simple. The Saints are over the cap by more than $80 million and can’t go into the offseason that way. This is regular so it’s almost just something to document opposed to worrying about it. They always get it done and typically without much loss on the roster.

And the last thing Bleacher Report suggests is finding a way to reunite Carr with his old Raiders teammate Hunter Renfrow. While it sounds good on paper to reunite the pair, it doesn’t feel necessary. Renfrow’s usage and production have plummeted over the last two seasons. Gaining talent in the trenches is a greater priority than adding a receiver. If the Saints do add a receiver, they shouldn’t be dead-set on adding Renfrow. He may not be available until after June 1, so this gives the Saints all of free agency and the draft to view other options.

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Updating the New Orleans Saints depth chart at QB ahead of 2023 NFL draft

Is quarterback a priority for the New Orleans Saints in the 2023 NFL draft? We’re updating their depth chart at QB after free agency and weighing their options:

We’re just weeks away from the 2023 NFL draft, so it’s a good time to recap the offseason so far and take stock of the New Orleans Saints’ biggest positions of need.

And we’ll start with the most important position on offense: quarterback. Here’s the list of passers under contract for 2023, with new additions in bold:

  • Derek Carr
  • Jameis Winston
  • Jake Luton

The Saints rostered just two quarterbacks a year ago in Winston and Andy Dalton, who left on a free agent contract with the division-rival Carolina Panthers. Luton joined the practice squad during the season and hung around to return on a reserve/future deal.

But could they add another arm? Maybe so, if the value is right. The Saints have met with several quarterback prospects in this year’s draft: Florida’s Anthony Richardson (projected to be a top-10 pick), Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker (a likely top-100 selection), and mid-rounders like Houston’s Clayton Tune and Incarnate Word’s Lindsey Scott Jr. Assistant coaches Ronald Curry and D.J. Williams spent a week working with Malik Cunningham (Louisville), Jake Haener (Fresno State), and Jaren Hall (Brigham Young) at the Senior Bowl, too.

There’s some logic in drafting another quarterback. Winston is playing on a one-year deal and could be traded to a desperate team if an unexpected injury strikes. Carr’s contract was written with an off-ramp in 2025, so developing a possible Plan B could prove to be a wise investment. It just shouldn’t override heavier concerns like the defensive line and offensive depth.

So if a prospect like Hooker or Haener is available after the Saints have already picked some immediate contributors in the first round or two, it’s an easy move to understand. Bypassing those other priorities to spend a luxury pick on a quarterback the team hopes they don’t have to play in his rookie year would be a hard sell. But if nothing else, general manager Mickey Loomis and his front office are sure to take an unconventional approach to the NFL draft and zig when others would zag.

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Hendon Hooker could make sense for the Saints, but not in the first round

Hendon Hooker could make sense for the Saints, but not in the first round. Their priority needs to be adding immediate upgrades:

The New Orleans Saints caught a lot of attention this week by hosting former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Hendon Hooker on one of their 30 official pre-draft visits, with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport kindly reminding his 4 million Twitter followers that the Saints are scheduled to pick at No. 29 in the first round of this year’s NFL draft.

Which led to everyone asking whether the Saints could make a bold move and pick the prolific passer in Round 1 — after having inked a $150 million contract with Derek Carr?

If Hooker’s knee was fully healthy, if he were two or three years younger, and if he was coming out of a system that helped him cultivate more NFL-applicable skills: maybe, but then he would be a prospect going in the first round’s top ten picks, not its final ten. That isn’t the situation we’re in.

I’m saying this as someone who’s been singing Hooker’s praises since October: there’s a lot to like about Hooker, but not enough to where he should be the highest-graded prospect when the Saints are on the clock. Especially considering the state of their team. New Orleans needs to prioritize immediate help in the early rounds of this draft. After moving so strongly to install Carr as their quarterback, they must find some upgrades along the defensive line and a couple of positions on offense — wide receiver, tight end, running back, and maybe left guard.

There’s still a scenario where drafting Hooker makes sense. If the Saints can get at least one player (preferably two) who will be on the field for 30 or more snaps each week, then they should consider a luxury pick like Hooker. Having him on the roster to develop as a Plan B in case Carr doesn’t meet expectations in 2023 and 2024 could be wise, seeing as Carr’s contract was written with an exit ramp in 2025 if it’s needed.

Yeah, Hooker would be 28 by then. That can’t be helped. But he would have several years of experience in the offense to go with his ample reps at the college level between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. He’d still be in his athletic prime and could feasibly start for ten years, maybe. It’s not an ideal situation, but drafting a replacement plan to the quarterback you just agreed to pay $150 million isn’t ideal, either. Compromises are critical in the NFL.

So will the Saints call Hooker’s name on draft day? Maybe, maybe not. They don’t often pick many of the prospects who visit the facility on these exclusive pre-draft meetings (and it doesn’t help that we often only see half of them reported in the first place). It’s a possibility, but anything’s possible. We’ll just have to see how it shakes out. The Saints could very well decide that Hooker is their best and only option at No. 29, unlikely as it feels. But if that’s the case there’d be a lot to criticize about the talent evaluation that led them to such a conclusion.

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Defensive line, not QB, identified as Saints’ biggest need entering 2023 offseason

Defensive line, not quarterback, was identified as the Saints’ biggest need entering their 2023 offseason at Pro Football Focus:

The New Orleans Saints offense averaged just 19.4 points per game in 2022 with Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston under center, but Pro Football Focus says all attention needs to go to the Saints defensive line as New Orleans’ biggest offseason priority in 2023.

It’s a sentiment shared by Cameron Jordan, who immediately began advocating for the Saints to spend the first-round pick they got from trading Sean Payton on a defensive tackle to help him out up front. But that’s an interesting take. PFF analyst Sam Monson had this to say in breaking down the biggest roster need for all 32 teams:

Marcus Davenport enters free agency having never really justified the aggressive trade the Saints made to move up and draft him. He produced just 34 pressures across 15 games this season and has never earned a PFF pass-rushing grade north of 82.0. He is also yet to play more than 550 snaps in a season.

With Cameron Jordan turning 34 by the time next season rolls around and the interior underachieving in 2022, the Saints need to reload on their defensive line in a big way.”

It’s true that the Saints took a step back up front, and that they’re working with a long list of pending free agents including starters like Davenport and interior lineman David Onyemata. They’ve also lost the unit’s position coach Ryan Nielsen and hired former Florida Gators defensive coordinator Todd Grantham as his likely replacement. The defensive line needs to be rebuilt. There aren’t any doubts about that.

But the single most pressing area of concern remains quarterback. The Saints can probably re-sign Dalton for cheap, and they do still have Winston under contract if they can mend fences after benching him last season, but they should aim higher in 2023. Settling for less means more of the same, and another miserable season on offense like we saw in 2022 would turn even the staunchest of Saints fans against Dennis Allen and his vision for this team.

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4 roster mistakes the Saints must fix in the offseason

The Saints may have misevaluated the state of some position groups this past offseason, but it helps identify their needs to address in 2023:

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They’ve got another chance to prove us wrong on Sunday afternoon, but it’s looking like the New Orleans Saints misevaluated just how competitive they’d be this season. They haven’t won two consecutive games going into Week 12 and they’re ranked at third-place in maybe the worst division in the NFL this year.

So what went wrong? And how can they right the ship? Unfortunately, meaningful change won’t come about until the offseason, but their midseason woes are helpful in putting together a list of priorities come 2023. Here are four mistakes that need fixing once the season is over: