The New Orleans Saints Future Is Extremely Concerning | 2024 NFL Team Previews

The New Orleans Saints Future Is Extremely Concerning | 2024 NFL Team Previews

[Music] the New Orleans Saints finished the 2023 season with a 9-8 record and missed the playoffs for the third straight year it was an up and down year for the Saints as they started the year with a 2-0 record then dropped a 2-2 and were eventually 5-5 through 10 games and you get how their year went they had some high moments throughout the season such as a 34 to nothing shut out win in New England in which they allowed just eight first downs while forcing three turnovers and like the week eight win over the Colts in which they had one of the best offensive performances of not just their season but of anybody throughout the entire 2023 season but as we enter the 2024 regular season I simply ask the question what are the New Orleans Saints doing how are they trying to actively get better and trying to win a Super Bowl Under head coach Dennis Allen because to be completely honest this roster is one of the least inspiring in all of football and in today’s video we’re going to break down what we can expect from the 2024 Saints and if they can get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 when they were eliminated by the Bucks in the divisional round of the playoffs there is a lot to break down with this team so let’s Dive Right In when you take a look back at the 2023 Saints season their most impressive win was a 23-13 win over the Bucks in week 17 in which the defense forced four turnovers and they improved from 7-8 to 8-8 entering week 18 and I credit them in a big way beating the division winner in their place let alone by double digits is a huge accomplishment for any NFL team but after that their most impressive win would probably be over the Colts in week eight which again credit where it’s du their offense played their tail off that day but aside from those two wins their other seven wins were all against teams that had a top 10 draft pick their other seven wins came against Bryce young twice Tyson bent Tommy DeVito Ryan tanah Hill ma Jones and Desmond Ritter and that’s my biggest concern with the Saints entering 2024 I have no doubt this team has a solid floor and I have no doubt this team will get to at least seven wins hell maybe eight or nine but when it comes hell or high water do you trust Derek Carr and Dennis Allen to pull through and win a big game that to me is the biggest question surrounding the Saints this year now to be fair in recapping their 2023 season Derek Carr got hurt against the Packers in week three and there is a strong case to be made that if he does not get hurt they win in Lambo and start 3 and0 I did at least want to include that because I’m sure Saints fans were probably thinking it now to break down their free agency period and what they did before the draft well there’s not a lot to write home about the best players they lost in free agency were Malcolm roach who went to Denver jamus Winston who went to Cleveland and Andres Pete who went to Las Vegas and all of these guys including Zack Bon Corner Lonnie Johnson and safety Marcus may all went elsewhere too but they’re probably going to be backups with their new teams so New Orleans didn’t really lose anybody big in free agency and depending how much emphasis you place on a backup quarterback in today’s era could determine whether or not you consider jamus Winston a big loss but the point is most of the 2023 team is going to be back now if you know anything about the Saints and how they operate under G Mickey Lumis they have a unique way that they go about spending their money and it’s that they max out the cap every year and don’t really plan ahead and to be completely honest that’s been my frustration with the Saints over the past few years because Shawn Payton and Drew Brees are no longer there to cover this way of building a football team and since Drew retired they’ve been hovering between average and just above average but never good enough to win big games however I really liked what they did in free agency with the limited assets they had in bringing in Chase young and Willie Gay Jr to help out the defense Willie should be a solid third linebacker alongside Demario Davis and Pete Warner and quietly I really like this linebacking Trio now with Demario being 35 it has to be mentioned that he is obviously getting old and that a drop off will probably happen at some point and in fact he is the oldest player on the roster but de Mario has played the best football of his career since since becoming a saint several years ago and he is amongst the best linebackers in football and while Willie isn’t on the same level as Demario I like the addition especially for the cost as the Saints gave him a one-year Pro it deal for $3 million I also really like the chase young signing because Chase had a career high in pressures and a tie for career high in sacks last year and anytime you have a player that has showed as high of flashes as Chase has throughout his career I’m all for a one-year deal and if you give a player like Chase a 1year $13 million deal honestly I don’t care if it’s fully guaranteed or if only 50% of it’s guaranteed because in the best case scenario the player proves thems and they get a long-term deal and in the worst case they’re gone in a year anyway so I really liked what the Saints did in free agency with the limited assets they had by bringing in both Willie gay and Chase Young defensive coordinator Joe Woods is back for his second season with the team and the Saints play a lot of cover one and cover three meaning they run a lot of middle of the field closed Concepts and I would expect a lot of the same from the Saints in 2024 not just because Joe Woods is back but because a lot of their defense is going to be the same as last year and bringing in Chase young is not going to change the defense from calling a lot of cover one to quarter quarter half or to any other coverage now now the 2023 Saints finished eighth in points allowed per game and if this team is going to go to the playoffs and have any sort of success they’re going to have to finish top 10 in points allowed per game again and what you may not know is the saints were top 10 in both offensive points per game last year and defensive points per game allowed last year but when the saints defense allowed 18 or more points in a game in 2023 New Orleans was just one and8 with their lone win coming over the Colts in week 8 so when they were accumulating all of their wins in 2023 outside of the Colts game of course it was most of the time against young quarterbacks that could not move the ball against this defense and the receivers some of these guys were throwing to would also show that like when they played the Panthers Giants or Titans we will dive into the Saints schedule later in the video but the front four is going to have to get after the quarterback this year early and often and I know I have my gripes with how Mickey Lumis goes about running his team from a salary cap standpoint and I know some saints fans are fed up as well but the Saints pass rush this year and Hell their entire front seven is going to be a problem obviously Cam Jordan is not the same player he was five or six years ago as he is now a wildly old vet at 35 years old but he played injured for a lot of the 2023 season and I think he can still get six or seven sacks this year they also o have a pretty underrated player in Carl Granderson who led the team in pressures last year with 58 and Carl was rewarded with a 4-year contract extension last September and I don’t like to harp too much on guys as much as voice my concerns so a big credit to Mickey Lumis for paying his top pass rusher before that number would have went up exponentially as they locked him in at 13 million per year and when you have three legit pass rushing options in Granderson who by the way is probably the most famous player to play for the University of Wyoming in the NFL Chase young and Cam Jordan well I really like their options especially for a team who plays a lot of man-to-man coverage and for a team that relies on getting home they also have 2023 firstr defensive tackle Brian breaze who had four and a half sacks from the interior as a rookie and over 30 pressures contributing too and again I really really like the Saints front 7 I have my concern turns with the saint secondary as marshan ladimore has played in just 17 total games over the past 2 years and not only that but he is entering year eight and anytime a corner in today’s era is entering year seven or anything beyond year seven I start to worry about father time catching up to them safety Tyron Matthew is also 32 years old and I know he has had a good first two years with the Saints but like with Demario Davis we have to note his age because he is no spring chicken Paulson adbo has become a good player for the Saints as a second corner and I think he could be in for a big year Jordan Howen was good for a fifth round rookie last year and we will see how he plays in year two and while I think the Saints secondary if all healthy and all playing at their best can be good this year I really really like their front four but they will have their work cut out for them as they do play some very tough opponents especially early on in the 2024 season now I have a lot of concerns with the Saints offense entering 2024 and it’s more than just saying Derek Carr is not a top five top seven or top eight quarterback and that should not be a hot take I don’t think Saints fans would even go to war for their Guy saying he is a top player at the position but we’ll start with the running back position now I have a lot of concerns with Alvin chimra and Jamal Williams entering 2024 as we know in today’s era running back shelf lives are shorter than ever before and their position and the def decline at the position starts faster than a lot of other positions corner is really the only one that comes into mind now with Alvin chimra and Jamal Williams those guys have had great careers but they were drafted back in 2017 and each player entering the 20124 season is 29 years old this is already after a year in which the Saints finished 31st in yards per carry now I know offensive coordinator or former offensive coordinator P Carmichael was fired and and they brought in Clint kubak but I don’t think Clint kubak is going to make them go from averaging 3.6 yards per carry like they did last year to averaging 4.8 or 5.0 yards per carry and that they’re going to be one of the best running teams in all of football the Saints spent a third round pick on running back kendre Miller in the 2023 draft and in Miller’s rookie year he had 51 total touches he wasn’t a bad player when they brought him in but he certainly wasn’t Elite either and if you are thinking in the best case scenario you may be thinking that this could be the 2024 version of kirn Williams Kiren did not have a good rookie year for the Rams in 2022 and in fact it looked very similar to what kendre did for New Orleans last year but predicting the next Kiren Williams is pie in the sky and if kendre becomes that player I will 100% welcome being wrong on that but I think it’s incredibly Reckless to predict that or to at least think that could be the case entering the season now for the rest the Saints offensive players or at least at the skill positions I’m not really motivated or enthused by what they have outside of Chris olav Rasheed Shahed could be a solid number two and he had over 700 yards last year and I hope he can build upon that as that would be a good wide receiver to for New Orleans but after that we’re talking about Cedric Wilson Jawan Johnson at Perry equinus St Brown and I’m not really moved by any of these guys again outside of Shahed and even that can be a little bit of a a projection in himself I don’t think the Saints offensive line is one of the better units in football entering 2024 although again I do credit Mickey Lumis for not doubling down on the Trevor Penning selection and saying hey Trevor we know you struggled in 2023 but we’re going to throw you out there at left tackle again in 2024 just to see if we have something in our former first round pick I really really liked the selection of tackle tiis fuaga when they took him in the first round of the 2024 draft and I think he will have a impact early on for New Orleans but the elephant in the room to me is quarterback Derek Carr now if you look at cars raw numbers from 2023 he threw 25 touchdowns to eight interceptions and you may say that’s pretty good and it’s certainly not bad it’s certainly not you know 35 40 touchdowns but it’s doable it’s workable if you will but Derek har threw 13 touchdowns to just seven interceptions and averaged 221 yards per game through the first 13 games of the 2023 season I’ve spoken with several Saints fans at least I did throughout the season last year and there were times where they wanted jamus Winston to play over Carr because they know jamus would bring a spark to the offense that Carr simply didn’t have now Derek had a good end to the 2023 season as he threw 12 touchdowns to just one interception in the final four games but I’m not all of a sudden going to be a big believer in Derek Carr and think that the guy that we saw in the final four games of the 2023 season for New Orleans is going to carry over in his 10th or 11th season now and that he’s going to have a 37 passing touchdown season and that he’s going to set the league on fire I’m not a big believer in Derek Carr and I think that was just enough to get fans to buy back in and to give them some hope entering the 2024 season especially given the saints went three in one during the final four games and I don’t think Derek Carr is going to have that good of a year this year and to me the New Orleans Saints are almost the definition of painfully average the Saints should have pretty substantial rookie impact especially from their first round pick to Lisi fuaga whether they play him at left tackle or right tackle to me is IR relevant as I think he’s athletic enough to make the transition over to left tackle and if in the scenario Ryan ramek has played his last snap as a New Orleans Saint then we saw the player fu was on film during his time with Oregon State last year and I think he will be able to not only make the transition from Collegiate level to the NFL level but I think he will do a fine job and I think the Saints have a long-term starter in fuaga I also think they more than righted their wrong with the Trevor Penning selection a few years ago Corner Kool-Aid mckinstry was their second round pick and I not only liked the value of the selection as I had Kool-Aid in my top 30 in my final top 150 big board but what I liked in particular about this was they drafted a very good and very smart football player in the middle of the second round and to be honest I would be surprised if Koolaid doesn’t play for them for at least four or five years maybe even six or seven we’ll see but the point is I think the Saints came away with this draft with two starters and that’s really all you can hope for and especially at the offensive tackle and Corner position how will Koolaid do in his rookie year is something I’m very interested to see because as we know Corners get tested not just week in and week out but every single play in and play out but the point is I think they will have two long-term starters in fuaga and mckinstry they did not pick again until they selected quarterback Spencer Rattler in the fifth round and on the podcast we’ve discussed the possibility of Spencer Rattler coming in late in the year if in the scenario Derek Carr doesn’t play well like he did for most of the 2023 season I think Rattler is definitely more of a developmental selection as there was a reason the quarterback or the quarterback six and quarterback seven was over a 100 spot difference as quarterback six was Bo Nicks and quarterback seven was Spencer Rattler one of my favorite picks in the 2024 draft not just for the Saints but of anybody especially on day three and in terms of value was the selection of defensive tackle Christian Boyd I would have been fine if any team took Christian Boyd in the early part of the fourth round yet they got him on late day three now how much will he contribute in year one to be honest I don’t know the answer to that and I wouldn’t expect anything substantial from Christian Boyd but I do like the possibility of Brian breaze and Christian Boyd moving forward the bottom line for the Saints 2024 class is I think they have two long-term starters with a lot more potential throughout the later rounds now for the Saints 2024 schedule aside from the week one game against Carolina at home in which I think they will win weeks 2 through 5 is brutal for New Orleans and I think a 1 and four start is very possible for them because after the Carolina game in week 1 they go to Dallas then come home to play Philly then go to Atlanta and then go to Kansas City on Monday night and the worst part about that Kansas City game on Monday night aside from losing a day of rest recovery and game planning is they come home in week six to play a division opponent in a game that’s going to mean a lot more with the Bucks than people may think that week six game could potentially determine a seventh playoff spot in the NFC what also makes matters worse for New Orleans is the Falcons have an easier schedule and we discussed this in the Falcons team breakdown if you want to go check that out after the end of this video but in weeks 16 through 18 for the Saints they go to Green Bay on Monday night then come home to play the Raiders in week 17 then go to Tampa Bay in week 18 and in the NFC while the quarterback play isn’t as loaded as the AFC there’s going to be a lot of teams contending for spots 5 through 7even and as I said in the Falcons video I do think Atlanta will win the division and their schedule is a lot easier than New Orleans they don’t have to go to Kansas City they don’t have to play other teams that New Orleans has to play which again makes Atlanta’s schedule easier this was already with a team in 2023 for New Orleans by the way that had a plus 11 turnover margin and a team that finished top 10 in both points per game and points allowed per game last year and they still didn’t make the playoffs so to be completely honest I think the Saints ceiling is a wild card exit and that would be as a wild card team as I don’t think the Saints are going to win the division they didn’t last year and they had a lot of things going for them I also think there is a possibility this team starts out 1 and four and when you are battling uphill from one and four it’s always going to be tough sledding I think the Saints will finish anywhere from 7 and 10 to 9 and 8 but again with the maximum a wild card playoff loss I hope you enjoyed today’s video and if you did please like And subscribe is 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