As the calendar flips to July, it is once again time for the most optimistic and hopeful time of the year for football fans, both in college and the pros.
Hope springs eternal, and every team is starting at zero with big dreams of a Lombardi trophy dancing through their heads.
Of course, just how realistic those dreams are can vary team by team, and there are always analysts looking to put a cold, hard damper on those lofty aspirations.
For the New Orleans Saints, they are entering the new season with the glories of yesteryear sinking further and further into the rearview mirror, long enough ago that both Drew Brees and Sean Payton, the catalysts for the greatest run of Saints success ever, have both had time to start and end jobs as television broadcasters.
Payton in fact will be back patrolling the sidelines in Denver, lending an air of finality to any lingering hopes that he might find his smile again in the Big Easy after some time away.
For better or worse, the Saints are now Dennis Allen’s team, at least for one more season, but while New Orleans went out and got a new likely starter under center in former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, CBS Sports analyst Andrew Podell still thinks the team’s offseason was sub-par.
Podell ranked the Saints’ offseason 27th in the NFL. His reasoning:
The New Orleans Saints’ signing of Derek Carr to a four-year, $150 million deal (two years, $70 million in terms of money he’s definitely going to see) has likely locked them into the NFC South title in 2023, but there’s a ceiling here. New Orleans needs Michael Thomas to play ball in 2022 and serve as the No. 2 option in the passing game behind second-year rising star Chris Olave…
Plus, almost every key player on their roster has had their contract restructured, meaning the Saints are set to have about -$61 million in cap space entering the 2024 offseason, the lowest figure in the league according to OverTheCap.com.
Since this is their reality, they had to let almost all of their starters on their defensive front… New Orleans utilized its first two draft picks on defensive linemen, but there’s no guarantee that they’re impact players right away…
For a salary cap-starved team like New Orleans, Williams’ money could’ve been better allocated to positions of higher value. The Saints roster is stacked up like a house of cards for 2023, but it could come tumbling down in 2024…
Of course, some of Podell’s takes will likely prove to be overblown, considering one of those defensive linemen Podell is touting was the oft-injured Marcus Davenport. The write-up also overlooks the team’s other breakout rookie receiver from 2022, former undrafted free agent Rashid Shaheed, who should keep teams from focusing too much on Chris Olave, regardless of the degree to which Michael Thomas can return to his previous form.
One thing is certain: The biggest development so far in the post-Payton era in New Orleans has been the Saints’ return to their familiar place below the radar of many NFL analysts. It’s up to them to prove that assessment wrong.
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