There's one game left to play in the 2024 season, but there's no sugarcoating it: The Saints are a lot closer to the bottom of the NFL than they are to the top.
At 5-11 the Saints have clinched their worst record since 2005 and head to Tampa as double-digit underdogs. They've now lost games to the Raiders (4-12) and the Panthers (4-12) and needed a last-second field goal block to beat the Giants (3-13). There have been some nice wins, but the picture is clear to the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert.
"The Saints are right now swimming with the league’s bottomfeeders, that’s just being honest," Hebert said on WWL Radio this week. "It's pro football. It's not PE class, you've got to hold the organization accountable."
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Whatever shape those changes take, there's an additional frustration in the fact that the Saints' worst season since Katrina won't net a top-5 pick. In fact, it'll hardly get them in the NFL's top 10, because the bottom tier of teams is crowded. The Saints are the only 5-win team, but there's a host of teams with 3 or 4 wins.
Here's how the NFL draft order shapes up for teams eliminated from postseason contention heading into Week 18:
1. Patriots (3-13)
2. Titans (3-13)
3. Browns (3-13)
4. Giants (3-13)
5. Jaguars (4-12)
6. Panthers (4-12)
7. Jets (4-12)
8. Raiders (4-12)
9. Bears (4-12)
10. Saints (5-11)
11. 49ers (6-10)
12. Colts (7-9)
13. Cowboys (7-9)
14. Cardinals (7-9)
The NFL's draft tiebreaker is strength of schedule, meaning that the Saints can't fall any lower than 10th even with a win. That's the good news. The bad news is they can only climb as high as No. 8 or 9 even if a number of the teams in front of them win. The only teams they could hop would be the Bears (at Packers) and Raiders (vs Chargers). The most likely scenario is that the Saints remain at No. 10.
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So what should the Saints target in that spot? It's unlikely a top quarterback will be available and we all saw the NFL's bottom-ranked rushing attack go off against the Saints run defense. Journeyman Ameer Abdullah went off for 115 yards, the first time in his 141-game NFL career, and became the sixth different 100-yard rusher against this year's defensive group.
“It just goes to show you that the Raiders took the approach, we might be last at rushing the football but we think we can run the ball against the Saints,” Hebert said.
Mike Detillier concurs.
“No matter what you think about Shadeur Sanders, Cam Ward, I’m gonna break you the bad news. Those two guys are going to be the first two picks in the draft. They’re gonna be long gone by the time the Saints pick," Detillier said. "You get you a big man. I think that’s how you build football teams, from the inside out and build either offensive line or defensive line but … the No. 1 need area is to get a run-stuffer in the middle.”
If that's the case the Saints could be saying hello to a Wolverine, with two of the top options coming in the form of Michigan defensive linemen Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. Whatever the name, Hebert thinks it's time to add a blue-chip prospect to that group.
“We’ve got to stop the run, to me, that would be the top of my list," Hebert said. "Who is the No. 1 D-tackle, we’re not developing, but is gonna come in and kick ass.”