ESPN ranks Saints’ roster in the bottom half of the league
The New Orleans Saints will be starting at least eight new players in 2021, having lost incumbents in all three phases to retirement (Drew Brees), the salary cap crunch (Janoris Jenkins, Emmanuel Sanders, Malcom Brown), free agency (Trey Hendrickson), or simply poor performance (Jared Cook, Thomas Morstead).
And that’s not accounting for turnover throughout the roster’s middle class, where a couple of youngsters are competing to replace Kwon Alexander or Justin Hardee in the kicking game, or stand out in the receiving corps and defensive line rotation.
All those factors combined for a poor ranking by Pro Football Focus’ Ben Linsey for ESPN+, who put the Saints all the way down at No. 17 when listing all 32 teams. That puts New Orleans in a very distant second place within their division to the reigning-champ Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 1, though comfortably ahead of the Falcons (25) and Panthers (27) in the NFC South basement.
Ironically, Linsey pointed to former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston as the Saints’ biggest X factor for 2021. Linsey wrote of Winston’s potential impact on their offense:
“Jameis Winston passed for 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions the last time he had a starting quarterback job. That’s about as X factor as it gets. It will be interesting to see not only how coach Sean Payton integrates both Winston and Taysom Hill into this offense but also how the passing offense evolves with Winston as the projected starter. Winston led all qualifying passers in average depth of target (10.8 yards downfield) in his five seasons with the Buccaneers. Over that same stretch, the Saints’ offense ranked 32nd in aDOT (7.5 yards).”
So here’s more credit to the Bucs for keeping an 11-win team together around a 43-year old quarterback. Maybe they’ll actually compete for the division title this year, though getting hot at the right time and running a couple of mediocre quarterbacks off the field in the playoffs does make for a better narrative.
The only pass Winston threw against his old squad was a 56-yard touchdown connection to Tre’Quan Smith; maybe the Saints can uncork more of that vertical passing potential from their so-so receiving room, which Linsey anticipates will lean heavily on Michael Thomas yet again. Until Winston or Hill have shown they can elevate their teammates the way Brees did for so many years, expect New Orleans to continue to be overlooked.
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Saints land more players than any other team in PFF's preseason top 50
