Tag: rashid shaheed

Saints pick a surprising LSU product in Mel Kiper mock draft

The Saints picked a surprising LSU product in Mel Kiper’s latest mock draft, adding a big-time wide receiver in Brian Thomas Jr.:

There’s a long-running narrative that the New Orleans Saints avoid drafting players out of LSU, but it’s not like they pointedly pass on the Tigers each year — it’s just rare for the stars to align so that those players stay in Louisiana after turning pro. And the latest mock draft from ESPN’s Mel Kiper changes that trend, though maybe not in the way the Saints-LSU fan contingent might expect.

It’s not Jayden Daniels going to the Saints at No. 14 overall in Kiper’s most recent projection, but one of his receivers: and it isn’t Malik Nabers, neither. With the top three receivers all being picked inside the top-10, it’s LSU standout Brian Thomas Jr. going to New Orleans. Here’s why Kiper says he’s a good fit:

Derek Carr had an up-and-down debut season in New Orleans, and his sizable contract almost certainly means he’ll be back as the starter in 2024. But what do we know about the playmakers around him? Chris Olave is a star who has put up back-to-back seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. After that? There are big questions. Michael Thomas likely will move on this offseason, while Alvin Kamara has regressed in recent years. And while Rashid Shaheed showed he can be a useful complementary receiver, Carr could use another asset in the receiving game to try to boost this offense.

Thomas, the third of the LSU offensive players off the board in this projection, led the FBS with 17 touchdown catches last season while averaging 17.3 yards per reception. He had just three drops on 93 targets. He can take the top off defenses and be a stellar No. 2 option as a rookie. Plus, the born-and-raised Louisiana kid wouldn’t have to leave the state.

Thomas posted modest numbers through his first two years at LSU before breaking out in 2023 with 68 receptions for 1,177 yards. He primarily lined up out wide in the Tigers’ offense but was still a threat to make plays after the catch (averaging 5.7 yards per catch with the ball in his hands). He went 7-of-13 on contested catches this year (53.8%) and is 17-of-36 (47.2%) on those targets in his career.

Look for the Saints to stock up on receivers this offseason. Right now they have just two of them under contract for 2024 in Chris Olave and A.T. Perry, though Rashid Shaheed will return as an exclusive rights free agent. Michael Thomas is technically signed but the Saints must choose whether to extend his contract or release him from it before free agency starts in March.

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Studs and Duds from the Saints’ 2023 season

Who were the biggest studs and duds for the New Orleans Saints through the entire 2023 season?

The New Orleans Saints have had their ups and downs this year and the same can be said for the players. The secondary was the strongest and most consistent part of the Saints defensively or offensively. It’s no surprise two of the studs come from that position group. The defense was better than the offense which is also represented by the placement of the list. These are the studs and duds from the Saints entire 2023 season:

Saints report card: Grading every position from 2023

New Orleans Saints report card: Grading every position group from 2023, from Derek Carr at quarterback to the offensive line and cornerbacks

Which position groups held the New Orleans Saints back in 2023? Which ones carried the team? Those are the questions we set out to answer in our 2023 report card by evaluating every position on the team from quarterback to cornerback and everywhere in-between.

Here’s how we graded all of them:

Rashid Shaheed receives more all-star recognition for his punt returns skills

Rashid Shaheed received more all-star recognition for his punt returns skills, being named to the PFWA All-NFL Team:

Good for Rashid Shaheed: the New Orleans Saints wide receiver received more all-star recognition for his punt returns skills, being named to the Pro Football Writers of America All-NFL and All-NFC Teams. Shaheed was previously selected for the Pro Bowl and earned All-Pro attention for his efforts in the return game.

Shaheed returned 25 punts during the 2023 season (tied for 10th-most) but finished with 339 return yards at an average of 13.6 yards per attempt (third-most in each category). He also scored a touchdown on a 76-yard return against the Green Bay Packers.

Shaheed has developed into a very impressive playmaker for the Saints. His 1,479 all-purpose yards ranked around the NFL, and he was the only player in the league with 700-plus yards from scrimmage as well as 300-plus return yards on both punts and kickoffs. Let’s see how much higher his star can rise.

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Saints interviewing Texans QB coach Jerrod Johnson on Monday

The Saints are interviewing Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson on Monday for their vacant offensive coordinator position:

A couple of teams will be meeting with Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson this week; KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson reports that the New Orleans Saints will interview Johnson remotely on Monday before he travels to speak with Cleveland Browns brass in person on Tuesday.

Some fans might worry about Johnson’s first meeting with the Saints being virtual instead of face-to-face, but this is common practice around the league. Saints linebackers coach Michael Hodges joined a Zoom interview with the New England Patriots last week. If these initial conversations go well they can lead to second, more-thorough interviews in person, as was the case for Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, per NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe.

Still, it goes to show that Johnson is a coveted candidate. He’s done a great job preparing C.J. Stroud for life in the NFL and coaching up the Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite. He’s known as a sharp football mind with a passion for teaching his players the intricacies of the game.

“I see myself as a teacher. My biggest thing is I want to teach,” Johnson told Wilson earlier this year. “Whatever is needed of the players in the room, from Case Keenum, to Davis Mills, to C.J., whatever I can do to teach and give them whatever they need, I try to be transparent and open and honest with them. It’s a joy to coach them.”

That’s exactly what the Saints need to get their offense right and maximize Derek Carr’s skills. A stronger attention to detail and eye for coaching up young players like Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Kendre Miller is going to be important for whoever earns the offensive coordinator job. Being able to connect with Carr and help him excel (and, critically, avoiding the mistake-prone start we saw from him last season) is critically important. We’ll see how things develop after Johnson goes through this round of meetings with the Saints and other teams.

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Common themes emerging in Saints offensive coordinator search

Common themes are emerging in the Saints’ offensive coordinator search — beyond being products of the McVay coaching tree:

We know three of the names in the list of New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator candidates: Dan Pitcher, Zac Robinson, and Shane Waldron. While they all coach for different teams, they do share some commonalities that explain why the Saints are prioritizing them.

And it goes beyond being offshoots of the Sean McVay coaching tree. But that’s the most obvious (and arguably most important) factor, so let’s start there. Pitcher hasn’t worked with McVay directly but he’s been a top assistant for Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who worked with receivers and quarterbacks under McVay earlier in his career. Taylor’s offense takes a lot of cues from McVay and Pitcher has come up in the same system.

Both Robinson (who is still with the Rams) and Waldron (who was hired away by the division-rival Seattle Seahawks) worked under McVay personally, and his influence on them is clear. In Waldron’s case, the Seahawks used even heavier play action (on 22.9% of their passes) than the Rams did this year (18.8%). Seattle also tried more passes further downfield more often (targeting receivers 20-plus yards downfield on 12.3% of passes) than L.A. (10.4%). For comparison, the Saints averaged deep shots on 12.2% of their attempts and used play action on just 16% of their passes.

What about the run game? All three teams averaged more yards per carry before contact than the Saints: the Rams and Seahawks both gained 2.7 yards before hitting a defender, and the Bengals were just behind at 2.5. The Saints were nearly half a yard worse at 2.3. The New Orleans offensive line was a mess for much of the season, so moving to a McVay-influenced scheme could help them clean the slate.

The Seahawks used zone on 67.9% of their runs, while the Bengals leaned heavier to gap blocking (using zone on 43.7%), as did the Rams (who used zone on just 38.6%). The Saints are more in line with Seattle while using zone on 62.1% of their runs. New Orleans was the only team of the three to not have multiple running backs gain 15-plus yards on multiple carries this season (Alvin Kamara had 6 of them).

So this tells us the Saints want to deploy a more effective running game and a passing attack that relies more heavily on play action and big shots downfield, which lines up with their personnel. Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are two of the best receivers in the league past the numbers — use them.

Something else to note: the Saints averaged the second-fewest yards after the catch in 2023 as a team, at 4.4. Only the Carolina Panthers (4.1) were worse. All three of these teams they’re looking to poach from ranked top-10: the Bengals and Rams at 5.6, and the Seahawks at 5.4. Some of that is on personnel in stocking up on receivers who can make a play with the ball in their hands, but a lot of it is also on the play design. Getting receivers open with room to work is key, and each of the teams that Waldron, Robinson, and Pitcher come from excel at it. Hopefully the Saints can land one of them, or someone with similar philosophies.

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Steelers sign former Saints wide receiver Marquez Callaway

The Steelers signed former Saints wide receiver Marquez Callaway to a reserve/future deal:

There’s one member of the 2023 New Orleans Saints playing elsewhere in 2024. The Pittsburgh STeelers announced that they signed wide receiver Marquez Callaway to a reserve/future deal; Callaway was one of three players on the Saints practice squad who were not brought back after the season ended.

Callaway, 25, totaled just 28 snaps on offense in three games this year without drawing a single target. He impressed with 46 receptions for 698 yards and 6 touchdown catches for the Saints back in 2021 but has not returned to those heights. He followed Sean Payton to the Denver Broncos last year but couldn’t make the team.

Now he’ll be trying his hand in Pittsburgh. As for the Saints, they have just three receivers under contract for 2024 in Chris Olave, A.T. Perry, and Michael Thomas, who is likely to be released in a procedural move in March. All-Pro returns specialist Rashid Shaheed is an exclusive rights free agent and is expected to return on a minimum salary, not being eligible for a real extension until 2025. Lynn Bowden Jr. (restricted) and Keith Kirkwood are also Saints free agent receivers of note.

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Rashid Shaheed, Demario Davis named All-Pros by the Associated Press

New Orleans Saints playmakers Rashid Shaheed and Demario Davis were each named All-Pros by the Associated Press:

This is really cool: two members of the New Orleans Saints were selected for this year’s All-Pro teams by the Associated Press, with punt returner Rashid Shaheed named to the first team and linebacker Demario Davis picked for the second team.

Shaheed finished the year with the third-most punt return yards (339), having averaged 13.6 yards per return on 25 attempts. He led the NFL in all-purpose yards (1,479) thanks to his 384 kick return yards and 756 yards from scrimmage, 719 as a receiver and 37 as a rusher.

It’s the fifth year in a row that Davis has earned All-Pro recognition on either the first or second team; by earning a spot on the second team this year, Davis triggered a $500,000 bonus in his Saints contract. He’s continuing to play well late into his career, having celebrated his 35th birthday on Thursday.

A handful of other Saints players earned votes for the All-Pro list, per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell: cornerback Paulson Adebo, special teams ace J.T. Gray, and long snapper Zach Wood; and Shaheed got votes for his work as a kick returner, too. Hopefully they can all build off their successful individual seasons and get New Orleans back to the playoffs this time next year.

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These 24 Saints players will be free agents in March

These 24 New Orleans Saints players will hit 2024 free agency in March:

A small crowd of New Orleans Saints players are going to test the market in free agency this March, though few of them are starters or even critical backups. Still, it’s a group featuring many players the team would like to have back.

Some situations are more complicated than others. Backup quarterback Jameis Winston, for instance, reworked his contract so the Saints must choose to extend him or release him, essentially making it a voided deal (even if he is technically under contract through 2024). That’s also the case with fan-favorite wide receiver Michael Thomas.

On top of that, there are different types of free agents. Exclusive rights free agents have the option to either play for their current team at a minimum salary or sit out the 2024 season, so guys like Rashid Shaheed won’t be going anywhere. Restricted free agents could be tendered at a higher salary and possibly bring back compensation if signed elsewhere, but that’s rare to see. The vast majority of free agents will enjoy unrestricted status and have the freedom to field offers from any team.

With that said, here’s the list of Saints players who might be leaving for greener pastures in a few months:

Saints free agents: Ranking the 10 most important players to re-sign

We ranked the top 10 New Orleans Saints free agents who must be re-signed for the 2024 season:

How can the New Orleans Saints end their playoffs drought? There aren’t many key players headed for free agency in the spring, with just one of their pending free agents having played more than 50% of his snaps in 2023: offensive lineman Andrus Peat.

But the rest of their class is lukewarm, without many heavy contributors headed for the open market. So while retaining talent is going to be a concern in the spring, this free agency cycle is going to be more about acquiring upgrades (once the Saints get under the salary cap, of course). New Orleans doesn’t have to prioritize their own players as heavily as in years past.

Still, there are some players going into free agency that we’d like to have back. Here are the top 10 pending Saints free agents, ranked by how important it is for New Orleans to re-sign them: