When Dennis Allen heard the news that Tom Brady would be un-retiring and returning to the NFC South foe Tampa Bay Bucs, the new Saints head coach's reaction was similar to everyone else's.
"He’s probably the greatest quarterback of all time, so there’s a little bit of ‘damn, I thought we were done with this guy,’" Allen said, speaking from the annual owner's meetings this week. "But, yea, certainly we enjoy the challenge of having to go up against him."
But after joking about one of his division's biggest free-agent additions of the past decade, he explained his team-building philosophy that will likely differ from the fanbases surrounding the NFL's 32 teams. The Saints have been notably quiet in the 2022 free agency period. They've brought back Jameis Winston, Carl Granderson and WRs Deonte Harty and Tre'Quan Smith. They've signed safeties Marcus Maye and Daniel Soreson, DT/DE Kentavius Street, and QB Andy Dalton.
Where's the splash at WR or TE? Where's the big-name player coming in on a big-money deal? The Saints were clearly on the edge of the pool when it came to a Deshaun Watson mega-deal, but they've otherwise been wading in the shallow end. And DA is just fine with that.
"I think there’s times where [big free-agent spending] can benefit you, but I’d say as an overall philosophy I’d rather augment our team through free agency and really build our team through the draft,” the Saints coach said.
And while that's not an answer or a philosophy that will blow up on social media and get the talk shows abuzzing, it's hard to argue with the success. The Saints have won 58 games over the past five seasons and managed a winning season despite losing Drew Brees to retirement and starting an NFL-record 58 players due to injury. The Saints' biggest free agency losses the past few seasons have been in the form of players they'd drafted outside the first round in Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Williams and Terron Armstead, and largely couldn't afford to keep around because of the big deals already handed out to players like Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara and Ryan Ramczyk.
The team is more focused on personality and culture fits than big splashes, and the best example is in the form of a player few would question as being one of the best free agency finds of the past decade in Demario Davis. The Saints head coach points out that his signing was anything but buzz-worthy at the time, and the rest is history. With some pieces left to add and a draft left to go, DA says he sees his team as being in a good position to do just that ahead of his first season as the Saints head coach.
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And the team is in no rush to satisfy the Twitter masses by overspending on a a name they know.
"There’s still a few things on the roster that I think we want to be able to do, but we’re going to take our time in doing that," he said. "I’ve found, and we’ve found as an organization that our best moves are usually not the ones that everyone wants to write about and talk about and tweet about or whatever."
MORE FROM DA
ON BRINGING BACK JAMEIS WINSTON
“I think that was the biggest thing that showed me that he can be our quarterback, is I thought he did a great job protecting the ball, and we were 5-2 with him as the starting quarterback. So I felt like he was a guy that gave us an opportunity to win, so I felt good about that."
Allen adds that while he's hesitant to put a specific timeline on Winston's return from a major knee injury, he expects his QB to be ready and on the field when it's time.
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“I thought he did a really good job with his decision-making and he protected the football. He put our team in a position to win. I think in our league the No. 1 thing you have to do is figure out how not to lose games before you can really figure out how to win them."
ON RE-SIGNING TRE'QUAN SMITH
“Tough. Competitive. He’s a guy that can do all the dirty work for us. I think he’s probably a little bit of an underrated player. I think he’s been great in our locker room. He’s a good leader for us, and really, you talk about a lot of superstars and they get a lot of the limelight, a lot of the credit, a lot of the notoriety, but it’s guys like that you want to fill your team with. Just those competitive, smart type guys.”
Allen said the team still sees WR as a position that could be added to, and likely will be, but he's happy with the players in the building. Allen adds that he met with Michael Thomas in California over the offseason to check in on his rehab from the ankle injury and subsequent surgery that kept him out in 2021.