The gulf between expectations that the New Orleans Saints (and their fans) have for themselves and those shared by outsiders couldn’t be wider. The Saints attacked the offseason with the playoffs in mind, even if Sean Payton stepped down, betting on big returns from some of their best players. And the Saints are loaded up with top-10 talent at a number of spots on both sides of the ball.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler’s surveyed more than 50 executives, coaches and players for his position-by-position polling, sourcing quotes from around the NFL to illustrate what each player does well and how they stack up against their peers. Let’s run through the list: