The New Orleans Saints were one of the more interesting teams to watch in the 2023 offseason, as the world continues to wonder if they should blow it up or try to compete. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox was a fan of their recent approach, giving the Saints a B-plus while grading the offseason moves for every team across the entire league. Here was his reasoning:
If (Derek) Carr can provide consistency at the quarterback position, the Saints will have a chance to compete in the NFC South this season. A defense that ranked fifth in yards allowed last season lost key players like Marcus Davenport, David Onyemata, Justin Evans and Kaden Elliss, However, New Orleans did a very admirable job of replacing them.
I think continuing to try to compete was a very smart move when looking at where they were compared to the rest of the division. They’re the only roster not in a rebuilding mode right now and have a fairly wide open path to the playoffs.
Derek Carr was probably the best move at quarterback when looking at the rest of the market, especially when you factor in how well his contract has already aged compared to the rest of the deals made this offseason.
The defense was addressed as well as you could have asked for, both in the draft and in free agency. Isaiah Foskey and Bryan Bresee both project as long-term key players.
I think a B-plus is a very fair assessment, nothing was super splashy but instead a lot of quieter and solid moves that should get the team back in the postseason with a chance for a run.
